a: 


S  TJ  M  M  E  R 

C  0  T  L  A  N 


BY  JACOB  ABBOTT. 


NEW  YORK: 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  PUBLISHERS. 
1854. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  forty-eight,  by 

Harper  &  Brothers, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Soutnern  District 
of  New  York. 


PREFACE. 


Having  spent  a  month  or  two  during  the  last  sum- 
mer in  rambhng  among  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  I 
haye  written  the  following  account  of  my  adventures 
for  the  amusement  of  my  pupils,  and  of  such  other 
readers  as  may  honor  these  pages  with  a  perusal. 
The  narrative  is  strictly  a  personal  one.  The  work 
does  not  pretend  to  give  a  geographical,  historical,  or 
statistical  account  of  Scotland,  but  only  a  simple  nar- 
ration of  the  adventures  of  a  traveler  rambling  in  a 
romantic  country  in  search  of  recreation  and  enjoy- 
ment alone.  In  writing  the  account,  I  have  attempted 
nothing  more  than  to  reproduce  for  the  reader  a  pic- 
ture of  the  scenes,  such  as  they  were,  which  presented 
themselves  to  my  attention.  The  book,  therefore, 
claims  no  higher  province  than  that  of  offering  a  ra- 
tional source  of  entertainment  to  the  reader  in  leisure 
hours. 

Abbott's  Institution,  New  York,  Jan.,  1848. 


CONTENTS. 


LETTER  I. 

CROSSING  THE  ATLANTIC. 

Parting, — Description  of  the  Ship.— ^Daily  Routine. — Burial  of  the  Dead 
— Making  Sail. — Heaving  the  Log. — Divine  Service  at  Sea. — The 
Lottery  Page  13 

LETTER  n. 

LANDING  IN  ENGLAND. 

The  Channel. — Scenery. — Landing. — Scenes  at  the  Custom-house. — 
Description  of  an  English  Inn  43 

LETTER  IIL 

A  RIDE  THROUGH  THE  MANUFACTURING  DISTRICT. 

The  Liverpool  Dock. — English  Rail-way  Station. — English  and  Araeri 
can  Ideas  in  respect  to  Arrangements  for  Traveling. — Scenery  of  the 
Manufacturing  District. — Arrival  at  York  57 

LETTER  IV. 

DIVINE  SERVICE  IN  THE  MINSTER  AT  YORK. 

Description  of  York. — The  Cathedral. — Divine  Service  in  the  Minster 
— The  Communion. — Influence  of  Ceremonies  and  Costumes    .  70 

LETTER  V. 

THE  COLLIERIES. 

Newcastle  and  its  Environs. — Visit  to  a  Coal-pit.— Descent  into  the 
Mine. — Description  of  the  Interior. — General  Plan. — Arrangements 
for  raising  the  Coal. — System  of  Ventilation. — Scenery  at  the  Mouth 
of  the  Tweed  S-^ 


X 


CONTENTS. 


LETTER  VI. 

ENTRANCE  INTO  SCOTLAND. 

Description  of  Berwick-upon-Tweed. — English  Electioneering. — Forti- 
fications of  the  Town. — The  Salmon  Fishery. — The  Merse. — Rail-way 
along  the  Cliffs   Page  115 

LETTER  VII. 

Arthur's  seat  at  Edinburgh. 

Description  of  Edinburgh. — Ascent  of  Arthur's  Seat. — St.  Anthony's 
Chapel  and  Well. — View  from  the  Summit. — Interesting  Localities 


in  the  Neighborhood  131 

LETTER  VIIL 

HOLYROOD. 

Situation  of  the  Palace. — Galleiy  of  Portraits. — Queen  Mary's  Rooms. 
Royal  Chapel. — Visitors  and  Guides  148 


LETTER  IX. 

LINLITHGOW. 

Description  of  the  Village. — The  Palace. — Various  ancient  Apartments. 
— Queen  Mary's  Room. — Emblems  of  ancient  and  modem  Times. — 
Environs  of  the  Palace,  and  little  Guide     .....  165 

LETTER  X. 

ENTERING  THE  HIGHLANDS. 

Situation  of  Loch  Katrine  and  Loch  Lomond. — Entrance  to  the  High- 
lands at  Callander. — The  Trosachs. — Ben  An  and  Ben  Venue. — 
— Steam-boat  on  Loch  Katrine. — Scenery  of  the  Glens. — Character 
of  the  Population  179 

LETTER  XL 

LOCH  LOMOND. 

First  View  of  Loch  Lomond. — Steam  Navigation  on  the  Loch. — Tour- 
ists.— An  evening  Walk  on  the  Shore. — Ascent  of  Ben  Lomond. — 
Description  of  a  Highland  Wedding  across  the  Loch        .       .  194 


CONTENTS. 


xi 


LETTER  XII. 

STAFFA  AND  lONA. 

Description  of  Oban. — Private  Lodgings  at  Oban. — Announcements. — 
Sail  to  lona. — Scenes  at  the  Landing,  and  visiting  the  Ruins. — 
Staflfa. — Landing  through  the  Surf. — The  great  Cavern. — Return  to 
Oban  Page  222 

LETTER  XIII. 

BEN  NEVIS. 

Situation  of  Fort  William. — View  of  the  Lochs,  and  of  Glen  Nevis. — 
Ascent  of  Ben  Nevis. — Operations  of  the  Sappers. — Precipices  and 
Chasms. — Descent  of  the  Mountain. — A  Highland  Legend       .  242 


LETTER  XIV. 

THE  CALEDONIAN  CANAL. 

Description  of  the  Valley  in  which  it  lies. — Ride  in  the  Stage-coach. — 
Steamer  on  the  Canal. — Fort  Augustus  and  the  surrounding  Scenery. 
— Inverness. — Field  of  Culloden  263 


LETTER  XV. 

LOCH  LEVEN  CASTLE. 

Region  m  which  Loch  Leven  lies.^ — Account  of  Queen  Mary's  Impris- 
onment.— Situation  and  Structure  of  the  Castle. — The  Guide's  Account 
of  the  Queen's  Escape. — Souvenirs  278 


LETTER  XVI. 

EDINBURGH  CASTLE. 

The  High  Street  of  Edinburgh. — Situation  of  the  Castle. — General  Ar- 
rangements.— History  of  the  Scottish  Regalia. — Arrangements  for 
the  public  Exhibition  of  them. — The  Crown  Room,  and  great  oak 
Chest   .296 


LETTER  XVII. 

LEAVING  SCOTLAND. 

The  Stage-coach. — English  and  American  Ideas. — English  Constitution. 
— Different  Views  in  America  and  England  in  respect  to  a  hereditary 
Aristocracy. — American  Ideas  of  Equality. — Gretna  Green. — Arri- 
val at  Windermere. — Erroneous  Impressions  in  England  respecting 
American  Principles  of  Government  311 


ENGRAVINGS. 


View  of  the  Landing  of  a  Party  from  a  Steamer  at  the  Island  ot 
Staflfa  Frontispiece. 

View  in  the  Neighborhood  of  the  Collieries  ....   Page  95 

View  of  the  Palace  of  Holyrood  House,  with  Salisbury  Crags  and 
Arthur's  Seat  in  the  Distance  149 

The  Wedding  Party  on  Loch  Lomond,  with  Ben  Lomond  in  the  Dis- 
tance  213 


Ben  Nevis,  and  the  Entrance  into  the  Caledonian  Canal  .  .  249 
View  of  the  Castle  of  Loch  Leven  285 


SUMMER 

IN 

C  0  T  L  A  I 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


LETTER  I. 

CROSSING  THE  ATLANTIC. 
Anticipations.  Hour  of  departure. 


SETTING  SAIL. 

July  1,  1847. 

On  looking  forward  to  the  prospect  of  crossing  the 
Atlantic  for  the  first  time,  some  months,  usually,  before 
the  day  of  embarkation,  the  mind  is  strongly  excited 
with  anticipations  of  pleasure.  To  visit  Europe  is  the 
early  hope  and  ambition  of  almost  every  cultivated 
spirit  in  America ;  and  when  the  idea  of  wandering 
through  the  streets  of  London,  of  visiting  the  Louvre 
and  the  Palais  Royal,  of  ascending  the  Alps — an  idea 
which  has,  through  the  long  years  of  childhood  and 
youth,  appeared  only  as  a  romantic  vision — comes  at 
last  to  assume  the  form  of  an  approaching  reality,  the 
pulse  beats  quicker,  and  the  heart  bounds  with  enthusi- 
astic impatience  to  have  the  hour  of  departure  arrive. 

But  when  it  does  really  arrive,  it  generally  brings 
with  it  a  great  change  of  feeling.  The  excitement  and 
the  enthusiasm  give  way  to  an  oppressive  sense  of  care 
and  responsibility,  which  the  prospect  of  so  long  an  ab- 
sence and  so  extended  a  journey  can  not  fail  to  inspire. 
This  sense  of  responsibility  is  increased  by  the  long 
and  careful  preparation  necessary,  by  the  formal  pro- 

B 


14 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Commercial  travelers.  The  steamer.  Serious  thoughts. 

vision  which  it  is  prudent  to  make  against  the  possibil- 
ity of  never  returning,  and  by  the  parting  from  friends, 
whom  there  is  much  to  suggest  to  us  we  may  perhaps 
never  see  again.  All  these  things  damp  the  enthusi- 
asm sadly  at  the  last  hour.  Then,  besides,  there  is  a 
sort  of  ponderous  momentum,  as  it  were,  in  all  the  ar- 
rangements and  movements  connected  with  the  sailing 
of  an  Atlantic  steamer,  which  impresses  the  mind  with 
the  idea  that  going  forth  in  her  is  an  event  of  some 
mysterious  magnitude  and  importance.  The  solid, 
massive  structure  of  the  ship  ;  the  obvious  preparations 
for  the  encounter  of  danger  on  the  deep ;  the  foreign 
expression  given  to  the  scene  by  the  uniforms  of  the 
officers  and  the  costumes  of  the  seamen ;  the  thundering 
voice  of  the  steam-pipe ;  these,  and  other  indications  like 
them,  make  the  voyager  feel  that  he  is  embarked  in  a 
very  serious  enterprise.  There  are,  it  is  true,  a  large 
class  of  commercial  men  who  are  always  going  to  and 
fro,  from  one  continent  to  the  other,  and  who  are  equally 
at  home  whether  in  England  or  America,  or  on  the 
ocean  between,  who  do  not  probably  feel  these  influ- 
ences at  all.  But  in  respect  to  the  rest — the  travelers 
— those  who  go  only  as  visitors  to  Europe,  whether 
for  instruction  or  for  pleasure,  they  form  generally  a 
sad  and  sober  party,  as  they  proceed  to  sea.  The  hus- 
band and  father  forgets  the  Alps,  and  thinks  of  the  wife 
and  the  children  whom  h  is  leaving  behind  him.  The 
bride,  w^hile  she  clings  i^iore  closely  to  her  young  hus- 
band's arm  than  ever,  remembers  her  mother  and  her 
sisters,  and  the  happy  home  of  her  childhood,  from 
which  she  realizes  that  she  has  now  been  finally  sun- 
dered ;  and  if  there  chance  to  be  one  who  has  no  direct 
domestic  ties,  he  feels  a  new  intensity  in  homelessness 


CROSSING  THE  ATLANTIC. 


15 


All  ashore.  The  parting.  The  wharf. 

and  solitude  as  he  goes  forth  among  strangers  over 
the  wide  ocean  alone.* 

As  might  naturally  be  expected,  then,  the  company 
stand  sadly  and  seriously  upon  the  saloon  deck  when 
the  last  bell  rings  to  warn  "  All  ashore^''  The  wharf 
is  covered  with  a  crowd — strangers  to  one  another, 
but  bound  together  for  a  moment  now  by  one  common 
feeling — interest  in  the  parting  ship,  and  in  some  one 
or  more  of  its  now  imprisoned  inmates.  Every  one's 
heart  is  full.  Tears  come  into  many  eyes,  and  stand 
ill  ready  to  come  into  many  more.  The  company  on 
the  land  give  three  cheers,  which  their  parting  friends 

*  This  sense  of  isolation  and  loneliness  is  not  diminished  much  as  the 
voyage  advances,  and  the  travelers  have  opportunity  to  become  acquainted 
with  one  another,  for  such  acquaintance  rarely  ripens  into  any  real  or  cor- 
dial friendship.  There  are  exceptions,  it  is  true,  but  generally  the  solitary 
traveler,  or  the  little  party,  who  feel  alone  at  the  commencement  of  tho 
voyage,  feel  still  more  alone  among  the  multitude  of  their  acquaintances  at 
the  end.  There  is  a  certain  atmosphere  of  reserve,  which  is  peculiar  to  a 
company  of  American  travelers  going  to  Europe,  which  gives  an  air  of  for- 
mality and  caution  to  their  intercourse  with  one  another,  and  which  appears 
to  increase,  rather  than  to  diminish,  as  we  approach  the  foreign  shore.  The 
fact  is,  that  very  many  have  a  sort  of  feeling — indistinct  and  indefinable,  it 
is  true,  but  none  the  less  real  on  that  account,  and  certainly  not  unreason- 
able— of  uncertainty  how  far  any  new  friendship  which  they  may  form  on 
the  voyage  may  be  a  source  of  embarrassment  on  landing.  Nor  is  this  an 
improper  feeling.  Each  individual  has  his  own  peculiar  objects  and  enda  iu 
view.  He  has  in  prospect,  by  means  of  his  letters  of  introduction,  or  his 
personal  acquaintance,  facilities  for  accomplishing  these  objects,  so  far  as 
concerns  himself  and  his  own  immediate  party,  but  which  could  not  easily 
be  made  available  for  a  larger  number.  He  sees,  in  a  word,  or  fancies  he 
sees,  openings  of  admission  to  places  or  to  scenes  where  he  wishes  to  go, 
large  enough  for  himself,  but  not  large  enough  for  all  his  friends.  Through 
the  influence  of  this  feeling,  or  something  like  this,  it  hv  ^peus  that  though 
in  the  progress  of  the  voyage  the  strange  faces  become  familiar,  and  some 
personal  knowledge  is  acquired  of  the  various  individuals  and  parties  on 
board,  and  perhaps  a  common  conversational  acquaintance  is  formed  with 
nearly  all,  the  real  sense  of  separation  and  solitude  grows  sti-onger  instead 
of  weaker  all  the  way,  and  every  little  party  on  board  feels  really  more  iso- 
lated from  all  mankind  at  the  end  of  the  voyage  than  they  did  at  the  beginning. 


16 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  parting  salute.  Farewell.  Summons  to  lunch. 

on  board  sometimes-  have  the  heart  to  return,  and  some- 
times not.  The  ship,  however,  returns  the  salute  with 
a  gun  when  she  finds  herself  really  receding  from  the 
shore.  The  waving  of  handkerchiefs,  fluttering  more 
and  more  faintly,  and  at  longer  intervals,  as  the  dis- 
tance increases,  closes  the  scene.  The  outlines  of 
Boston  and  of  the  neighboring  shores  soon  grow  dim, 
but  by  the  time  we  fairly  realize  that  we  are  actually 
separated  from  our  native  land,  traveler-like  we  change 
suddenly  to  a  new  and  very  different  excitement.  We 
find  ourselves  all  crowding  eagerly  into  the  saloon  at 
the  summons  of  a  bell  calling  us  to  lunch  !  The  old 
campaigners,  in  whom  these  parting  scenes  excite  no 
emotion,  go  to  the  tables  because  they  are  hungry. 
Others  wish  to  make  sure  of  their  seats  for  the  voyage 
by  taking  early  possession  ;  and  the  rest  go  from  curi- 
osity, to  see  what  is  to  be  seen.  For  one  reason  or 
another  the  decks  are  deserted,  and  all  crowd  around 
the  tables  in  the  saloon  to  lunch. 

THE  SHIP. 

July  6. 

Five  days  on  the  Atlantic  !  It  is  necessary  to  allow 
about  five  days  for  time  to  get  accustomed  to  the  mo- 
tion of  the  ship,  and  to  the  novelty  of  the  scenes  which 
surround  one  at  sea.  This  time  has  now  expired  ;  and 
as  I  presume  that  very  few  of  my  readers  will  have  had 
the  opportunity  of  seeing  the  interior  of  a  sea-going 
steamer,  I  will  undertake  to  give  you  a  description  of 
oar  ship,  and  of  the  mode  of  life  which  we  lead  on  board. 

In  commencing  this  description,  I  am  seated  at  a  ta- 
ble in  a  little  cabin  which  is  below  the  principal  deck 
of  the  ship.    The  room  is  perhaps  eight  feet  wide  and 


CROSSING  THE  ATLANTIC. 


17 


Description  of  the  ship.  Cabins.  Gimbals.  State-rooms. 

twice  as  long,  and  it  has  a  table  which  nearly  fills  up 
the  whole  of  the  interior.  There  is  a  little  fire-place, 
with  a  grate,  at  the  middle  of  one  of  the  sides  of  the 
room,  with  marble  jams  and  mantel,  and  a  large  mirror 
over  it.  There  are  two  lamps,  one  on  each  side  of  the 
mirror,  suspended  at  the  end  of  brass  branches  in  a  pe- 
culiar manner,  so  as  to  keep  them  always  in  a  perpen- 
dicular position,  notwithstanding  the  pitching  and  roll- 
ing of  the  ship.  I  call  them  lamps,  but  they  are  really 
candlesticks,  the  candles  being  concealed  from  view 
and  pressed  upward  by  a  spring  as  fast  as  they  are 
consumed,  so  as  to  keep  the  flame  always  at  the  same 
level,  at  the  bottom  of  a  small  ground  glass  globe. 
They  have,  therefore,  the  appearance  and  the  name  of 
lamps,  though  they  burn  only  spermaceti,  as  oil  would 
be  inconvenient  to  manage  at  sea.  Their  mode  of  sus- 
pension keeps  them  always  upright ;  the  compasses,  the 
chronometers,  the  barometer,  and,  in  fact,  every  thing 
which  it  is  desirable  to  keep  steady  at  sea,  are  usually 
mounted  in  the  same  way :  it  is  called  hanging  them 
on  gimbals. 

Between  the  fire-place  and  the  table  of  the  little  room 
which  I  am  describing  there  is  but  a  very  narrow  space, 
scarcely  more  than  is  necessary  to  allow  two  persons 
to  pass  one  another.  Behind  the  table  a  sort  of  sofa 
extends  along  the  whole  side  of  the  room.  This  sofa 
answers  for  a  seat  by  day,  and  it  makes  two  berths  at 
night ;  and  in  order  to  confine  the  two  nocturnal  occu- 
pants, each  to  his  proper  portion,  it  is  divided  into  two 
sofas  by  a  sort  of  arm  in  the  middle.  The  whole  room 
is  handsomely  finished  with  oak  paneling,  and  is  light- 
ed, though  somewhat  dimly,  by  little  windows,  up  high, 
on  each  side,  consisting  of  a  row  of  single  panes  of  glass, 

B  2 


18 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Main- deck.  Saloon.  Fixtures  and  furniture. 

opening  out  upon  the  main-deck,  and  which  in  rough 
weather  have  to  be  closed  entirely.  An  enormous  leath- 
er bag  hangs  in  one  corner  of  the  room  to  receive  the 
letters  which  the  passengers  may  have  brought  on  board, 
but  which  they  are  forbidden  by  law  to  take  on  shore 
at  Liverpool. 

This  little  cabin  is  a  rendezvous  for  gentlemen ;  there 
is  another  similar  to  it,  further  forward,  for  the  ladies ; 
and  from  these  two  centers  narrow  passage  ways  lead 
all  through  the  "  between  decks"  of  the  ship,  with  state- 
rooms on  each  side  of  them.  These  state-rooms  are 
very  small,  with  two  berths  in  each,  one  above  the  oth- 
er, and  with  sundry  toilet  conveniences,  which  are  all 
secured  in  some  way  or  other  against  the  effect  of  the 
ship's  motion.  The  tumbler  sets  into  a  brass  ring  which 
projects  from  the  wall.  The  pitcher  has  a  socket  to 
receive  it.  The  lamp  is  in  a  little  triangular  closet,  be- 
tween one  state-room  and  the  next,  with  panes  of  ground 
glass,  through  which  its  light  is  transmitted  in  each  di- 
rection. This  lamp  is  accessible  only  through  a  small 
door  opening  into  the  passage  way :  it  is  hung  on  gim- 
bals. It  is  lighted  by  the  steward  every  evening  at 
dark,  and  is  extinguished  at  midnight,  and  is  thus  not 
under  the  control  of  those  who  use  it  at  all. 

This  little  world  of  state-rooms  is  usually  the  scene, 
for  the  first  week  after  going  to  sea,  of  a  great  deal  of 
misery.  Even  if  the  weather  is  not  rough,  the  ship 
writhes  and  twists  restlessly  on  the  swell  of  the  sea, 
producing  a  giddy  and  swimming  sensation  of  the  head, 
which  soon  results  in  a  general  derangement  of  the 
system,  and  in  pain  and  distress  far  more  hard  to  en- 
dure than  that  generally  occasioned  by  much  more  se- 
rious maladies. 


CROSSING  THE  ATLANTIC. 


19 


Main-deck.  Saloon.  Fixtures  and  furniture. 

The  whole  of  this  region  of  cabins  and  state-rooms, 
with  the  various  passages  connecting  them,  is  below 
the  main-deck.  Two  winding  stair  ways  lead  us  up, 
and  upon  the  main-deck  we  have  a  very  different  scene. 
First,  there  is  the  great  saloon,  extending  from  the  stern 
forward  nearly  to  the  middle  of  the  ship.  Within  this 
saloon  there  are  two  ranges  of  dark  mahogany  tables, 
one  on  each  side,  with  a  passage  way  between  them. 
Behind  the  tables,  and  against  the  sides  of  the  saloon, 
a  row  of  sofas,  or,  rather,  one  continued  sofa,  extends, 
and  hair-cloth  settees,  well  cushioned  and  stuffed,  are 
arranged  on  the  outside,  all  being  fastened  to  the  floor. 
The  passage  way  above  referred  to  is  between  these 
settees,  and  is  quite  narrow ;  all  the  rest  of  the  space 
in  the  room  is  occupied  by  the  tables  and  the  seats. 
Over  each  table  is  a  long  mahogany  shelf,  two  stories 
high,  the  edges  of  the  lower  part,  and  the  whole  sur- 
face of  the  upper  one,  being  perforated  and  cut  into 
sockets  to  receive  decanters,  tumblers,  and  wine-glass- 
es, and  to  hold  them  so  as  to  prevent  their  being  dis- 
turbed by  the  motion  of  the  ship.  These  shelves  are 
very  elegantly  made,  and  being  brass  mounted,  with 
a  peculiar  apparatus  to  allow  of  their  being  raised  a 
little  out  of  the  way  after  the  dinner  is  over,  and  al- 
ways having  their  glittering  contents  upon  them,  they 
make  a  very  brilliant  appearance.  There  is  a  row  of 
small  windows  on  both  sides  of  the  saloon,  each  con- 
sisting of  one  pane  of  plate-glass,  and  fitted  with  a  cur- 
tain of  crimson  damask.  The  remaining  portion  of 
the  walls  and  the  ceiling  over  head  is  of  panel  work, 
highly  ornamented,  and  of  dark  and  sober  coloring. 

This  saloon  has  to  answer  the  purposes  of  parlor, 
sitting-room,  dining-room,  reading-room,  and  lounge. 


20 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Scenes  in  the  saloon.  Employments.  Setting  the  tables. 

The  whole  interior  aspect  of  it  is  very  elegant  and 
comfortable  when  only  moderately  occupied  ;  but  it  is 
not  always  very  comfortable  when  it  is  full,  as  it  is  at 
lunch  and  dinner,  and  at  other  times  when  cold  or  wet 
weather  drives  the  gentlemen  in  from  the  decks.  Look 
into  it  now  at  any  ordinary  time,  and  you  see  the  set- 
tees occupied  by  gentlemen  in  all  attitudes,  and  en- 
gaged in  all  occupations.  Some  are  reading  books,  or 
English  newspapers  bought  at  Halifax  ;  some  are  play- 
ing backgammon,  chess,  or  cards  ;  some  are  talking ; 
some  are  asleep.  Here  a  party  of  half  a  dozen  have 
collected  around  a  group  of  decanters  and  wine-glass- 
es, and  are  drinking  one  another's  healths  ;  and  there  a 
few  ladies,  better  sailors  than  the  rest,  are  making  a 
desperate  effort  to  amuse  themselves,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  a  poUte  officer  of  the  ship,  in  writing  crambo. 
Children  are  running  up  and  down,  or  kneeling  upon 
the  settees  so  that  they  can  look  over  upon  the  tables, 
amusing  themselves  or  their  older  fellow-passengers 
with  their  playthings,  or  with  their  childish  conversa- 
tion. This  state  of  things  can,  however,  never  con- 
tinue for  more  than  two  hours  at  a  time,  as  we  have 
full,  formal  meals  five  times  a  day,  making  one  every 
four  hours,  except  that  the  interval  between  dinner 
and  tea  is  but  two  hours.  Thus  the  occupations  of 
the  company  are  continually  interrupted  by  the  coming 
in  of  the  stewards  with  their  cloths  to  spread  the  ta- 
bles. However,  if  you  will  just  let  them  lay  the  cloth 
itself,  you  may  then  go  on  with  your  work  if  you 
please,  whether  it  is  writing,  reading,  or  a  game  ;  they 
will  set  the  places  all  around  you,  and  leave  you  un- 
disturbed till  the  very  ringing  of  the  bell.  Under  these 
circumstances,  the  saloon  is  kept  in  a  constant  state  ol 


CROSSING  THE  ATLANTIC. 


21 


Setting  the  tables.  Movement  and  bustle. 

movement  and  change  from  morning  to  night.  We 
begin  with  breakfast,  which  continues  from  half  past 
eight  to  ten,  each  guest  appearing  when  he  is  readvj 
and  ordering  what  he  pleases.  Let  it  be  what  it  will, 
within  any  reasonable  limits,  it  is  sure  to  be  prepared 
and  placed  hot  before  him  in  a  very  few  minutes.  At 
eleven  they  begin  to  lay  the  cloihs  for  lunch,  which  is 
brought  upon  the  table  as  soon  as  the  captain  and  the 
mates  "make  it  eight  bells"  or  the  deck  above,  that  is 
ascertain,  by  an  observation  of  the  sun,  with  theii 
quadrants  and  sextants,  that  it  is  noon  at  the  place 
where  we  happen  to  be.  At  lunch  the  tables  are  load- 
ed with  tureens  of  broth,  cold  meats  of  every  variety, 
lobsters,  sardines,  baked  potatoes,  baked  apples,  stewed 
prunes,  crackers  and  cheese,  and  plenty  of  bottles  ot 
porter  and  ale.  After  the  tables  are  cleared  from 
lunch  there  is  a  short  interval  again  for  r^.xding  and 
writing  in  the  saloon;  but  at  three  o'clock  a  general 
interruption  to  these  occupations  takes  place  by  the 
appearance  of  the  cloths  for  dinner.  Thus  the  apart- 
ment is  kept  in  a  continual  state  of  movement  and 
bustle  from  morning  to  night,  the  scene  closing  be- 
tween ten  and  eleven  by  a  supper  for  all  who  choose 
to  take  it,  very  luxuriously  served. 

This  saloon,  which  is  built  upon  the  principal  deck 
of  the  ship,  does  not  occupy  the  whole  breadth  of  it. 
There  is  on  each  side  of  it  a  long  and  narrow  space 
between  the  saloon  and  the  sides  of  the  vessel,  which 
forms  a  sort  of  promenade.  It,  of  course,  has  the  deck 
for  its  floor,  the  sky  is  over  head,  and  the  side  of  the 
saloon,  with  its  row  of  small  plate-glass  windows,  on 
one  side,  and  the  bulwarks  of  the  ship  on  the  other. 
Here  the  children  play,  and  promenaders  walk  to  and 


22 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND 


Promenadea.  Stewards'  apartments  and  stores. 

fro  ;  and,  in  particularly  warm  and  sunny  weather,  lit- 
tle groups,  or  individuals  in  solitude,  sit  upon  camp- 
stools  or  settees,  or  upon  a  sort  of  mast  or  spar,  which 
lies  securely  lashed  along  under  the  bulwarks,  ready  to 
be  used  in  case  of  need,  and  occupy  themselves  in  read- 
ing or  conversation,  or  in  simply  waiting  for  time  to 
pass  along.  There  is  no  view  of  the  sea  from  these 
promenades,  on  account  of  the  bulwarks,  which,  instead 
of  being,  as  in  ordinary  steam-boats,  only  breast  high, 
are  made,  as  is  usual  with  sea-going  vessels,  much  high- 
er than  one's  head,  so  that  it  is  necessary  to  clamber 
up  upon  the  spar  in  order  to  get  a  view  of  the  waves. 

Forward  of  the  saloon,  and  in  a  line  with  it  upon  the 
deck,  and  separated  from  it  by  a  covered  passage  way, 
is  a  congeries  of  little  apartments — in  all  scarce  twelve 
feet  square — which  seems  to  be  China  closet,  wine  cel- 
lar, pantry,  and  larder  all  in  one,  and  from  which  issue 
the  seemingly  inexhaustible  supplies  for  the  table.  The 
covered  passage  way  above  referred  to  leads  across 
from  the  promenade  on  one  side  of  the  ship  to  that  on 
the  other,  and  from  it  there  is  a  communication  with 
the  saloon  on  one  side  and  this  pantry  on  the  other  side. 
The  two  stair-cases  by  which  we  ascend  from  the  cab- 
ins and  the  state-rooms,  land,  likewise,  here.  Across 
this  passage  way  the  stewards  bring  at  meal-times  the 
endless  supplies  of  every  imaginable  article  of  food  or 
refreshment,  with  which  they  load  the  tables  five  times 
a  day.  The  supplies,  it  is  true,  are  kept  up  by  a  set 
of  wild-looking  men,  half  cooks,  half  sailors  in  appear- 
ance, who  run  continually  to  the  windows  of  these  apart- 
ments outside,  at  the  proper  hours,  with  great  covered 
dishes  which  they  bring  from  various  cabooses  and 
kitchens  further  forward.    Notwithstanding  this,  how- 


CROSSING  THE  ATLANTIC. 


23 


Abundance  of  supplies.  Engines  and  stokers. 

ever,  the  immense  capacity  of  this  small  space,  and  its 
seeming  power  to  supply  every  imaginable  demand 
upon  it,  excite  continual  vi^onder.  One  of  my  mess- 
mates, accustomed  by  many  previous  voyages  to  these 
scenes,  was  very  free  in  calling,  at  any  time,  for  any 
thing  which  he  happened  to  feel  a  fancy  for,  whether 
it  was  upon  the  table  or  not ;  and  it  was  always  pro- 
duced without  any  question  and  with  very  little  delay. 
Upon  my  expressing  my  surprise  at  the  ampleness  and 
abundance  of  their  stores  and  preparations,  Oh,"  said 
he,  "  they  have  got  every  thing  on  board,  and  so  I  just 
take  the  liberty  to  call  for  any  thing  I  happen  to  want. 
I  reason  that  when  I  pay  ten  dollars  a  day  for  my  board, 
I  am  entitled  to  have  what  I  ask  for.  The  captain,  it 
is  true,  does  not  reckon  it  so.  He  calls  it  four  cents  a 
mile  for  traveling  conveyance;  /call  it  ten  dollars  a 
day  for  board  ;  and  as  both  modes  of  viewing  the  sub- 
ject seem  equally  correct,  I  choose  to  act  on  mine." 

Directly  forward  of  what  I  have  been  describing  we 
come  to  the  center  of  the  deck,  in  the  middle  of  the 
ship,  where  there  are  openings  and  passages  leading 
down  to  the  engines  and  machinery,  and  also  to  the 
forward  cabin.  You  look  through  a  grating  into  one 
of  these  openings,  and  see  iron  ladders  leading  down 
to  a  second  floor  of  grating  many  feet  below,  and  be- 
neath that  a  second  series  of  ladders  conducting  to  a 
still  greater  depth,  where  you  see  the  glow  of  fires, 
and  piles  of  coal,  and  black,  Vulcan-like  looking  men, 
replenishing  and  stirring  the  fires  with  enormous  im- 
plements of  iron,  seemingly  too  ponderous  for  human 
strength  to  manage.  You  wonder  what  there  can  be 
valuable  or  desirable  in  life  spent  in  such  occupations 
and  in  such  a  den. 


24 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


"  The  smoky."  Fresh  air.  The  smoke-pipe. 

,  Forward  of  this  is  a  very  important  place,  being  the 
only  part  of  the  ship  where  you  can  be  in  the  open  air 
and  yet  have  a  shelter  over  head.  Imagine  a  space  ten 
feet  square,  with  a  wooden  grating  for  the  floor,  and 
the  capstan  in  the  center  of  it.  There  is  a  partition 
forward  of  it,  behind  which  the  enormous  smoke-pipe 
ascends  into  the  air.  The  heat  from  this  pipe  pours 
out  very  abundantly  through  a  lattice- work  in  the  par- 
tition, so  that  the  passenger  can  warm  himself  by  it  if 
he  is  cold.  The  space  is  open  on  the  two  sides  to  a 
broad  passage  way  along  the  deck,  beyond  which, 
however,  it  is  protected  on  the  sides  of  the  ship  by  the 
paddle-boxes,  kitchens,  and  various  offices.  Thus, 
while  it  is  in  a  great  measure  open  to  the  air,  it  is  pro- 
tected from  the  rain  by  the  saloon  deck  which  extends 
over  it,  and  it  is  cut  off  by  the  surrounding  structures 
from  all  prospect  of  the  sea.  This  is  the  great  rendez- 
vous of  the  smokers,  who  stand  about  the  capstan,  or 
sit  on  the  settees  and  camp-stools.  H-ere,  also,  the  half 
sick  come  in  bad  weather,  for  it  is  the  only  sheltered 
place  about  the  decks.  Here  they  come,  therefore, 
when  too  unwell  to  bear  the  confined  feeling  of  the 
cabins  and  saloon,  to  enjoy  the  fresh  air  a  little-,  fresh 
air  which  is  composed  in  about  equal  proportions  of 
the  heat  of  the  boilers,  the  smoke  of  the  cigars,  and  all 
the  winds  of  heaven. 

There  is,  however,  one  other  place  of  tolerable 
shelter,  which,  after  all,  is,  on  the  whole,  better  than 
this.  It  is  directly  above  it,  on  the  saloon  deck,  close 
by  the  naked  smoke-pipe,  where  it  comes  out  into  the 
open  air.  This  smoke-pipe  is  very  large,  perhaps  eight 
feet  in  diameter,  and  is  painted  of  a  fiery  red,  with 
black  bands  encircling  it.    The  saloon  deck  is  eleva- 


CROSSING  THE  ATLANTIC. 


25 


The  smoke-pipe.  Exposure.  "Forward." 

ted,  and  entirely  exposed  to  the  sky.  It  extends  from 
the  smoke-pipe  back  over  the  saloon  to  the  stern  for 
about  half  the  width  of  the  ship.  Two  winding  stairs 
lead  up  to  it.  It  is  surrounded  by  a  brass  railing, 
which  is  covered  with  canvas  at  sea,  but  is  very  bright 
and  elegant  in  port.  Here,  in  fine  weather,  you  can 
sit,  or  you  can  walk  up  and  down,  if  your  head  is  suf- 
ficiently steady.  You  have  an  unobstructed  prospect 
of  the  sea,  and  you  can  watch  conveniently  all  the  op- 
erations of  the  sailors  in  heaving  the  log,  and  in  mak- 
ing and  furling  sail,  and  also  those  of  the  officers  in 
taking  the  observation  at  noon.  But  you  must  be 
warmly  clothed,  for  there  is  always  a  cold  wind  draw- 
ing over  the  decks  of  a  sea-going  steamer.  When  it 
becomes  too  cold,  or  when  it  begins  to  rain,  you  can 
go  to  the  smoke-pipe,  and,  by  placing  your  camp-stool 
on  the  sheltered  side  of  it,  find  a  tolerable  protection 
from  the  rain ;  and,  at  any  rate,  you  find  the  effects  of 
a  little  wet  more  tolerable  than  that  of  the  cigars  in 
the  more  sheltered  place  around  the  capstan  just  be- 
low. The  result  is,  that  all  ladies,  and  nearly  all  gen- 
tlemen, except  the  smokers,  when  they  wish  to  feel  the 
warmth  of  this  enormous  tube,  prefer  to  seek  it  in  the 
open  air  above,  rather  than  in  the  half-confined  inclos- 
ure  below. 

If  now  we  descend  to  the  main-deck  we  find  a  large 
open  space,  far  forward,  which  is  the  chief  scene  of 
the  movements  and  operations  of  the  seamen.  Here 
are  the  guns,  the  anchors,  the  spare  spars,  and  num- 
berless coils  of  rigging.  Here,  in  pleasant  weather, 
they  repair  the  worn  or  damaged  sails,  spreading  them 
down  upon  the  deck.  Here  the  carpenter,  using  a 
heavy  plank  for  a  bench,  temporarily  supported  on  any 

C 


26 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  forecastle.  Death.  Arrangements  for  the  burial. 

thing  which  comes  to  hand,  makes  a  new  grating,  or 
repairs  some  damage  in  the  wood-work  of  the  ship. 
He  has  to  stop  his  work  for  a  moment  occasionally,  to 
grasp  his  bench,  at  the  approach  of  some  heavy  swell 
of  the  sea,  to  prevent  its  being  overturned.  Here  the 
boys  belonging  to  the  families  of  passengers  come  to 
play  with  the  cordage,  or  to  make  new  arrows  for  their 
bows,  or  to  shoot.  In  front  of  this  space,  directly  in 
the  bows  of  the  boat,  is  a  small  raised  deck,  called  the 
forecastle,  on  which  a  look-out  man  keeps  watch  for 
ships  or  land  ahead.  Beneath  it  is  an  unexplored  and 
inaccessible  den,  where  the  sailors  find  what  little  re- 
pose their  life  allows  them. 

BURIAL  OP  THE  DEAD  AT  SEA. 

July  7. 

At  Halifax  a  sick  man  was  brought  on  board  the 
ship  on  a  litter.  It  was  said  that  he  was  an  English 
officer  who  had  been  in  the  West  Indies,  and  that  he 
was  gradually  sinking  under  a  state  of  disease  left  by 
the  yellow  fever,  under  which  he  had  suffered  there 
He  was  endeavoring  to  get  home  to  his  friends  in  En- 
gland. He  came  on  board  through  the  midst  of  a 
scene  of  noise,  confusion,  ^nd  din  on  the  wharf  and  on 
the  decks  of  the  steamer,  at  Halifax,  which  no  pen  can 
describe.  The  ship  put  to  sea.  The  poor  officer 
lingered  a  few  hours,  and  died  at  sunset.  The  next 
morning  an  announcement  was  placarded  at  the  en- 
trance of  the  saloon  that  funeral  services  would  be  at- 
tended at  half  past  nine  o'clock. 

It  was  a  bright  and  pleasant  Sabbath  morning.  A 
port  was  opened  through  the  bulwarks  on  one  side  of 
the  ship,  at  the  place  where  the  plank  is  usually  pass- 


CROSSING  THE  ATLANTIC. 


27 


Funeral  procession.  The  pall.  Spectatora. 

ed  on  board  for  the  landing  of  passengers.  There 
was  a  pair  of  steps  placed  here,  the  upper  steps  being 
on  a  level  with  the  lower  edge  of  the  port-hole.  It 
was  understood  that  the  funeral  ceremony  was  to  take 
place  here,  and  the  passengers  accordingly  assembled 
on  the  saloon  deck  above,  whence  they  could  look 
down  upon  the  scene. 

The  coffin  containing  the  body  had  been  placed  on 
the  other  side  of  the  ship  at  the  stern,  at  the  extreme 
end -of  one  of  the  promenades,  by  the  side  of  the  saloon, 
which  has  been  already  described.  When  the  appoint- 
ed time  arrived,  the  ship's  bell  began  to  toll  mournful- 
ly. A  procession  of  the  seamen,  neatly  dressed,  and 
with  very  thoughtful  looks,  headed  by  some  of  their 
officers,  advanced  from  forward.  They  removed  the 
sheet  of  canvas  with  which  the  coffin  had  been  cov- 
ered, and  placed  over  it  a  British  flag.  They  then 
lifted  the  coffin.  It  appeared  very  heavy.  It  had 
beeru  in  fact,  loaded  within,  to  insure  its  sinking  rap- 
idly. The  sailors  advanced  with  it  along  the  prome- 
nade, thence  across  the  ship  at  the  capstan,  and  then, 
turning  again,  they  brought  it  to  the  port-hole,  and 
placed  it  upon  the  step,  in  such  a  manner  that  the  foot 
of  the  coffin  extended  out  over  the  water.  They  kept 
it  carefully  covered  with  the  flag,  which  the  wind  en- 
deavored constantly  to  remove. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  captain  had  taken  his  place, 
with  some  of  the  superior  officers  of  the  ship,  near  the 
open  port,  and  he  now  began  to  read  the  burial  serv- 
ice. The  company  of  passengers  looked  on,  in  solemn 
silence  and  with  heads  uncovered,  from  the  saloon  deck 
above.  At  length  the  seamen  drew  back  the  flag,  and 
at  the  words,  "  We  commit  this  body  to  the  deep," 


28 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  plunge.  Common  error.  Water  inconrpressible. 

read  hj  the  captain,  they  pushed  it  forward  through 
the  opening.  It  seemed  almost  to  struggle  in  their 
hands  against  their  efforts,  as  if  the  disappointed  ten- 
ant within,  whose  heart  had  been  set  upon  regaining 
his  home  and  his  friends,  could  not  endure  to  be  thus 
thrust  forth  into  the  cold  and  merciless  surges  of  the 
ocean.  It  was  all  in  vain,  however.  The  coffin  was 
forced  through  the  opening,  and  plunging  into  the  wa- 
ter, it  went  down  like  lead  into  the  foaming  torrents 
which  were  poured  along  the  ship's  sides  by  the  enor- 
mous paddle  wheels  of  the  steamer. 

It  is  a  common  opinion,  though  undoubtedly  a  mis- 
taken one,  that  heavy  bodies,  sinking  at  sea,  go  down 
only  to  a  certain  depth,  where  they  find  the  water  in 
such  a  condition,  owing  to  the  superincumbent  press- 
ure, that  it  sustains  them  from  any  further  sinking  ;  and 
that  there,  each  one  finding  its  own  proper  level,  floats 
about  forever.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  the  pressure  of 
the  water  is  enormously  increased  at  great  depths  ;  but 
its  power  of  floating  heavy  bodies  depends  upon  its 
density,  not  upon  its  pressure.  If  water  could  be  com- 
pressed itself  into  very  much  narrower  dimensions 
than  it  naturally  occupies  at  the  surface,  so  that  a  large 
bulk  of  it  could  be  made  to  occupy  a  small  space,  its 
weight  and  its  buoyant  power  would,  in  that  case,  be 
very  much  increased.  It  would  become  like  mercury, 
and  it  would  then  be  able  to  float  iron,  lead,  stones,  in 
fact,  all  other  bodies  lighter  than  itself  But  no  such 
effect  can  be  produced  upon  it.  Although  the  pressure 
is  enormous  to  which  it  is  subjected  at  great  depths  in 
the  sea,  it  resists  it  all,  and  obstinately  retains  very 
nearly  its  original  dimensions.  Its  density,  therefore, 
and  its  weight,  and,  consequently,  its  buoyant  power. 


CROSSING  THE  ATLANTIC. 


29 


Time  of  descent.  Solitary  grave. 

remain  very  nearly  the  same  at  all  depths,  and  the 
iron  or  the  lead  which  it  can  not  sustain  at  the  surface 
it  can  no  better  sustain  a  thousand  fathoms  below.  In 
fact,  it  is  probable  that  most  sinking  bodies,  including 
even  iron  itself,  are  compressed  themselves  as  they 
descend,  more  rapidly  than  the  water,  so  that  they  be- 
come heavier  and  heavier  as  they  go  down,  and  thus 
seek  their  final  place  of  repose  with  a  constantly  ac- 
celerated force. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  therefore,  that  the  loaded 
coffin,  in  such  a  case  as  this,  continues  the  descent  com- 
menced by  its  first  solemn  plunge,  till  it  reaches  the 
bottom.  The  average  depth  of  the  ocean  has  been  as- 
certained to  be  five  miles.  If  we  suppose  now,  which 
may  not  be  far  from  the  truth,  that  such  a  weight  would 
descend  with  a  motion  of  about  one  mile  an  hour,  the 
body  would  be  five  hours  proceeding  to  its  final  place 
of  repose.  What  a  march  to  the  grave  is  this  !  Five 
hours  !  alone,  unattended,  unthought  of,  pressing  stead- 
ily on  away  from  all  light  and  life ;  passing,  without 
even  a  pause,  the  limit  where  the  last  ray  of  the  sun 
becomes  extinct,  and  where  the  last  trace  of  life  for- 
ever fails  !  And  what  a  tomb  to  come  to  at  last ! 
What  silence  !  What  darkness  !  What  desolation  ! 
What  eternal  and  motionless  rest !  At  such  a  depth  it 
would  seem  that  almost  absolutely  nothing  could  ever 
transpire ;  and  a  human  body,  seeking  there  its  last 
home,  must  find  one  so  entirely  its  own,  that  probably 
for  ages  past  and  for  ages  to  come  there  will  have 
been  nothing  but  its  own  intrusion  to  disturb  the  death- 
like repose. 

The  service  concluded,  the  port-hole  was  closed. 
The  sailors  went  forward  to  their  duty.    The  passen- 
C2 


30 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Eight  bells.  Making  sail.  A  breeze. 

gers  resumed  their  usual  attitudes  and  positions  about 
the  decks.  Four  bells  struck,  and  half  a  dozen  hands 
were  called  aft  to  "  heave  the  log."  The  funeral  was 
forgotten. 

MAKING  SAIL  IN  A  BREEZE. 

July  8. 

This  morning  when  I  went  up  and  looked  out  of  the 
door  of  the  passage  way  in  front  of  the  saloon,  I  found 
it  raining  in  torrents.  A  steward,  observing  my  for- 
lorn looks,  attempted  to  comfort  me  by  saying  that  the 
rain  would  clear  the  sky,  and  bring  the  wind  round 
fair ;  it  had  been  contrary  for  many  days.  Half  an 
hour  before  dinner-time  his  prediction  proved  true. 
The  sky  cleared  up  and  a  fresh  breeze  came  in  from 
the  right  quarter,  and  when  eight  bells  struck,  for  four 
o'clock,  which  was  the  signal  for  changing  the  watch, 
that  is,  for  one  set  of  hands  to  go  below  and  another  to 
take  their  place,  I  went  out  upon  one  of  the  bridges, 
and  heard  the  captain,  as  he  went  away  to  his  dinner, 
give  orders  to  the  mate  to  "  make  all  sail  before  the 
men  went  down."  The  dinner  bell  rings  at  this  time, 
but  as  I  had  had  one  dinner  before,  under  the  name  of 
lunch,  I  remained  on  the  deck  to  witness  the  scene. 

A  fresh  breeze  at  sea  seems  to  a  landsman  quite  a 
heavy  gale,  on  account  of  the  noise  made  by  its  whis- 
tling and  roaring  through  the  shrouds  and  rigging. 
Under  these  circumstances,  it  is  an  exciting  scene  to 
see  them  "  make  sail,"  as  they  term  it.  This  noise  of 
the  winds  in  the  cordage,  mingled  with  the  dash  of  the 
sea,  the  vociferations  of  the  officers,  the  shrill  pipe  of 
the  boatswain,  and  the  thrashing  and  flapping  made  by 
the  sails  before  they  are  secured,  all  together  produces 


CROSSING  THE  ATLANTIC. 


31 


Sailors.  Their  self-possession  aloft. 

a  strange  and  picturesque  effect.  The  sails  and  spars, 
too,  are  drawn  to  their  places  by  means  of  Hnes  of  rig- 
ging which  pass  through  so  many  pulleys  before  they 
come  to  the  hands  of  the  sailors  who  work  them,  and 
are  so  completely  lost  on  their  way  in  the  maze  of 
ropes  and  tackle,  that  when  you  see  an  effect  produced 
you  can  seldom  discover  where  the  power  is  which 
produces  it.  A  spar,  for  example,  moves  out  to  its 
place  ;  a  sail  creeps  slowly  up  to  an  inaccessible  point ; 
it  makes  a  great  deal  of  roaring,  flapping,  and  resist- 
ance, by  the  way ;  but  all  is  in  vain :  proceed  it  must, 
up,  home,  to  its  place  of  destination.  Now  and  then  a 
hne  or  a  block  "  gets  foul,"  and  a  man  is  sent  up  to 
clear  it.  He  mounts  to  a  dizzy  height,  holding  on  with 
one  hand,  while  he  does  his  work  with  the  other ;  the 
sailor's  motto  aloft  being,  one  hand  for  himself  and  one 
for  his  owners.  It  seems  a  very  dangerous  position,  in 
a  stiff  breeze  and  rough  sea,  for  a  man  to  stand  upon  a 
rope  stretched  along  under  a  spar,  or  to  lie  across  the 
spar,  face  downward,  reaching  out  at  something  which 
is  a  Httle  beyond  his  reach,  while  the  ship  is  rolling 
and  pitching  all  the  time  as  if  exerting  itself  to  the  ut- 
most to  jerk  him  into  the  sea.  But  the  sailors  seem, 
under  such  circumstances,  perfectly  at  home  and  self- 
possessed,  and  answer  "  Ay,  ay,  sir  !"  to  every  vocif- 
erated order  from  the  officer  below,  with  an  air  of  en- 
tire unconcern,  though  they  are  at  the  end  of  the  yard- 
arm,  where  they  hang  in  mid  air,  swinging  to  and  fro 
over  the  foaming  surges,  which  seem  fiercely  eager  to 
swallow  them  up.  I  presume  a  school  of  sharks  under- 
neath would  make  no  difference  in  their  composure  and 
unconcern. 

Whiles  the  work  of  expanding  sail  after  sail  is  going 


32 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Commands.  Boatswain's  pipe. 

on  in  such  a  time  as  this,  the  noise  and  din  of  the  winds 
and  waves  is  such  that  oral  orders  can  hardly  be  heard. 
Still  they  are  given.  An  officer  stands  erect  and  firm 
on  one  of  the  bridges,  which  are  narrow  passage  ways 
on  a  level  with  the  saloon  deck,  leading  across  the  ship 
from  one  paddle-wheel  to  the  other,  and  calls  out,  in  a 
very  loud  and  stern  tone  of  voice,  continual  commands. 
No  words  are  audible,  at  least  to  a  landsman,  in  his  vo- 
ciferations ;  and  it  would  seem  that  his  commands  must 
be  understood,  like  the  cries  in  New  York  or  London, 
not  by  the  articulations,  but  by  the  tone.  A  great 
many  orders  are,  however,  given  by  the  boatswain's 
pipe,  a  shrill  whistle  with  which  the  boatswain  and  his 
mates  communicate  directions,  by  means  of  an  infinite 
variety  of  twitterings  and  chirpings,  like  the  notes  of  a 
bird.  These  sounds  are  all  unintelligible  to  a  lands- 
man, but  they  constitute  almost  a  whole  language  for 
the  seamen  to  whom  they  are  addressed.  The  boat- 
swain pipes  an  order  for  the  seamen  to  pull  a  rope 
along  the  deck,  then  he  pipes  them  to  stop  pulling,  then 
to  come  back  to  a  new  position,  then  to  pull  again. 
He  pipes  the  men  up  to  make  sail,  and  he  pipes  them 
down  again ;  he  pipes  them  to  dinner,  and  he  pipes 
them  to  witness  punishment.  He  can  say,  by  his  man- 
ner of  blowing  his  whistle  when  the  men  are  hoisting 
a  sail,  "  Pull  away  !  pull  away  !  now  gently  ;  a  little 
more  ;  there,  that  will  do."  In  fact,  he  can  say  any 
thing.  The  sound  of  the  instrument  is  not  loud,  but  it 
is  very  shrill.  Its  piercing  note  extends  from  stem  to 
stern,  finding  its  way  equally  easily  through  all  the 
mazes  of  the  rigging  aloft,  and  through  all  the  dark 
depths  and  recesses  below.  It  penetrates  every  where, 
and  rises  above  every  other  sound,  cutting  its  way,  as 


CROSSING  THE  ATLANTIC. 


33 


Appearance  of  the  sea.  Dinner.  Sea  rising. 

it  were,  through  the  whistling  of  the  winds,  the  reverb- 
erations of  thunder,  and  the  roaring  of  storms  in  which 
thunder  can  no  longer  be  heard. 

In  the  mean  time,  while  the  canvas  gradually  spreads 
under  orders  thus  given,  the  ship  dashes  on  with  in- 
creased speed,  urged  by  the  engine  and  driven  by  the 
wind.  The  sea  rises.  The  billows  far  and  wide  are 
capped  with  foam,  the  white  gaining  rapidly  upon  the 
blue  all  over  the  raging  surface  around  us.  We  are  a 
thousand  miles,  perhaps,  from  any  land,  plunging  along 
from  swell  to  swell  over  the  raging  sea,  and  all  the 
time  the  dinner  is  going  on  just  as  usual.  In  the  little 
closet-like  rooms  along  the  sides  of  the  deck  they  are 
cooking  every  imaginable  dish,  making  pastry,  baking 
puddings  and  pies,  staggering  with  them  from  side  to 
side,  in  their  transitus  from  the  kitchen  to  the  oven,  and 
from  the  oven  to  the  table ;  and  in  the  saloon  a  hund- 
red gentlemen  and  ladies  are  going  through  the  cer- 
emonies of  a  formal  dinner  of  five  regular  courses  with 
entire  composure,  while  they  are  all  rolling  and  tossing 
together  over  the  waves.  With  what  astonishment 
would  a  philosopher  of  the  days  of  the  Greeks  and 
Romans  have  contemplated  such  a  dinner-party  in  such 
a  place,  and  in  the  midst  of  such  a  scene. 

A  few  hours  of  such  a  breeze  gets  up  quite  a  little 
sea,  and  the  passengers  soon  begin  to  come  up  upon 
the  decks  to  witness  the  commotion.  Some  remain 
upon  the  saloon  deck  ;  others  go  forward  on  the  bridg- 
es ;  and  one  lady,  more  courageous  and  self-possessed 
than  the  rest,  takes  a  position  with  her  husband  on  a 
projection  in  front  of  one  of  the  paddle-boxes,  where 
she  literally  hangs  over  the  boiling  surges,  and  can 
have  an  unobstructed  view  of  the  scene. 


34 


SUMMER   IN  SCOTLAND. 


A  morning  scene.  The  log.  Four  bells. 


HEAVING  THE  LOG. 

July  9. 

It  is  a  bright  and  beautiful  morning.  I  am  seated 
upon  a  camp-stool  upon  the  saloon  deck,  with  fifty  or 
sixty  gentlemen  and  ladies,  all  enjoying  the  pleasant 
morning  air.  Some  are  promenading  up  and  down  the 
deck,  though  with  rather  unsteady  steps.  Others  are 
standing  in  groups,  engaged  in  conversation.  Others, 
still,  are  seated  upon  camp-stools  or  settees,  reading  or 
talking,  or  looking  out  upon  the  ocean.  The  waters 
are  of  a  very  deep  and  dark  blue,  with  thousands  of 
waves  in  every  direction,  all  capped  with  foam. 

Here  come  a  couple  of  sailors  up  the  stair-way,  with 
two  great  bundles  of  flags  in  their  arms.  They  carry 
their  load  to  the  stern  of  the  ship,  all  the  passengers 
watching  their  movements.  They  unfold  their  flags, 
and,  attaching  them  to  one  another  by  their  cords,  they 
hoist  them  to  the  mast-head  in  such  a  manner  that  the 
flags  float  to  the  wind  in  two  long  lines,  reaching  from 
aloft  to  the  deck,  and  making  a  very  gay  appearance. 
The  object  is  to  dry  them.  They  are  of  all  colors  and 
forms. 

Four  bells  are  now  struck,  and  the  order  is  passed 
forward  to  come  and  "  heave  the  log."  The  log,  so 
called,  is  a  small  bit  of  board  in  the  shape  of  a  quarter 
of  a  circle,  having,  of  course,  two  straight  sides  and 
one  curved  one.  The  curved  side  is  loaded  with  a 
strip  of  lead,  nailed  along  its  edge.  There  is  a  peg  in 
the  center  of  the  board,  to  which  a  cord  is  attached. 
This  peg  is  pressed  into  its  place  pretty  tight,  just  be- 
fore the  log  is  thrown,  and  holds  the  log  to  the  line. 
There  is  another  branch  of  the  line  attached  perma- 


CROSSING  THE  ATLANTIC. 


35 


Heaving  the  log. 


The  reel. 


The  orders. 


nently  to  the  upper  corner  of  the  log.  Of  course,  by 
means  of  this  arrangement,  the  log,  when  in  the  water, 
will  float  perpendicularly,  and  consequently  it  will  not 
easily  drag.  But  by  a  small  jerk  upon  the  line  the  peg 
may  be  pulled  out,  and  then  the  log  maybe  drawn  along 
easily  over  the  water  by  means  of  that  branch  of  the 
line  which  is  attached  to  the  upper  corner. 


The  passengers  gather  around  to  witness  the  heav- 
ing of  the  log,  partly  from  interest  in  the  operation  it- 
self, and  partly  from  a  desire  to  learn  the  result  of  it, 
that  is,  the  rate  at  which  we  are  advancing  on  our 
way.  The  line  attached  to  the  log  is  two  or  three  hund- 
red feet  long,  and  is  wound  loosely  upon  a  sort  of  reel, 
or  spool,  that  turns  easily  upon  its  centers.  These  cen- 
ters are  in  two  handles  at  the  ends  of  the  reel.  A  sail- 
or holds  this  reel  high  above  his  head,  supporting  it  by 
the  two  handles,  so  that  the  line  can  be  easily  unwound 
from  it.  The  officer  draws  off  from  the  reel  a  number 
of  lengths  of  the  line,  which  he  lays  over  his  hand  in  a 
sort  of  coil,  and  then  calls  out,  "  Clear  the  glass.^'  This 
is  an  order  to  a  man  in  a  little  apartment  below,  to 
whom  the  sound  of  his  voice  penetrates  through  a  sort 
of  grating,  to  get  ready  a  kind  of  minute-glass,  but  not 
to  set  the  sand  to  running.    The  man  below  answers, 

Ready."  The  officer  then  throws  his  log,  coil  and 
all,  overboard,  astern  of  the  ship,  and  the  line  begins 
to  run  off  from  the  reel  through  the  hands  of  the  officer 
who  threw  the  log.  In  a  minute  or  two  a  small  rag, 
which  is  fastened  to  the  line  at  a  particular  point,  by 


36 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  glass.  The  knots.  Mode  of  reckoning. 

being  drawn  through  its  strands  and  tied,  passes  through 
the  officer's  hands.  This  rag  marks  the  commence- 
ment of  the  divided  part  of  the  line,  and  at  the  instant 
that  the  officer  feels  it  pass,  he  calls  out  quickly, 
"  Turn."  The  man  below  instantly  turns  his  glass,  so 
as  to  set  the  sand  to  running.  And  now  all  parties, 
operators  and  spectators,  stand  in  breathless  silence  as 
the  line  runs  off  from  the  reel.  The  longer  the  length 
of  line  which  is  drawn  off  before  the  sand  is  gone  from 
the  minute  glass,  the  more  rapid,  of  course,  is  the  mo- 
tion of  the  ship  through  the  water  show^n  to  be.  Three 
or  four  of  the  sailors  advance  and  put  their  hands  about 
the  line,  in  order  to  be  ready  to  assist  in  stopping  it  the 
moment  the  signal  is  given.  In  the  mean  time  the  reel 
spins  round  with  the  greatest  velocity,  the  line  runs 
through  the  hands  of  the  officer  and  of  his  assistants, 
and  is  seen  stretching  away  to  a  great  distance  astern, 
in  the  wake  of  the  vessel.  At  length  we  hear  the  call 
from  the  grated  cell  below,  "  Stop,"  when  the  officer 
and  all  his  assistants  grasp  the  line  in  an  instant  and 
begin  drawing  it  in.  They  immediately  perceive,  by 
its  divisions,  what  portion  was  run  out,  and  they  de- 
clare at  once  the  rate  of  the  ship's  motion.  The  an- 
nouncement is  received  by  the  passengers  with  disap- 
pointment, or  with  satisfaction  and  pleasure,  according 
as  the  result  varies  between  nine  and  twelve  miles  the 
hour. 

The  divisions  of  the  line  are  marked  by  knots,  each 
knot  of  the  line  being,  in  relation  to  the  minute-glass, 
the  same  as  a  mile  to  the  hour.  Hence  they  say  a 
ship  is  sailing  so  many  knots  when  they  wish  to  indi- 
cate her  speed.  These  knots  are,  however,  not  made 
in  the  line  itself,  but  in  little  cords  which  are  drawn 


CROSSING  THE  ATLANTIC. 


37 


Small  size  of  the  log.  Drawing  in  tho  line. 

through  and  around  the  strands  of  the  line  at  the  prop, 
er  distances.  The  whole  seems  to  make  rather  a  rough 
sort  of  cord  to  run  through  the  naked  hands  of  the  sea- 
men as  fast  as  it  does  run,  when  the  ship  is  advancing 
at  the  rate  of  twelve  miles  the  hour;  but  seamen  have 
hands  of  iron. 

Another  thing  which  surprises  the  landsman,  when 
he  first  witnesses  this  operation,  is  the  very  small  size 
of  the  log  itself,  which  seems,  at  first  view,  wholly  in- 
sufficient to  take  hold  of  the  water  with  power  enough 
to  draw  off  the  line  from  the  reel  as  fast  as  it  does, 
without  being  itself  drawn  rapidly  home  toward  the 
ship.  But  the  fact  is,  that  the  log  is  aided  very  much 
by  the  line  itself  lying  in  the  water,  as  soon  as  a  few 
fathoms  of  it  are  out ;  and  the  reckoning,  it  will  be 
observed,  does  not  begin  till  then.  The  line  seems 
to  cling,  as  it  were,  to  the  water  with  great  tenacity. 
In  fact,  when  the  operation  is  over,  and  the  line  is  to 
be  drawn  in,  every  one  is,  in  the  first  instance,  very 
much  surprised  at  the  degree  of  force  required  to  do 
this.  It  takes  three  or  four  men,  who  lay  the  cord 
over  their  shoulders,  and  walk  off  with  it  along  the 
deck,  in  the  attitudes  of  men  tugging  with  all  their 
strength  at  a  heavy  load.  The  cord  comes  in,  howev- 
er, more  and  more  easily  as  the  work  of  drawing  it  in 
goes  on.  At  length  they  cease  to  take  it  over  their 
shoulders,  and  begin  to  pull  it  in  hand  over  hand.  At 
last  the  log  itself  is  seen  away  astern,  at  the  end  of 
the  line,  dancing  and  skipping  over  the  blue  waters, 
and  through  the  foam  of  the  wake,  till  it  comes  up  on 
board  again. 

D 


38  SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 

The  announcement  The  service. 


DIVINE   SERVICE  AT  SEA. 

Sunday,  July  11. 

This  morning,  as  the  steward  passed  along  to  our 
state-rooms  to  wake  us  up  for  breakfast,  he  added  to 
his  usual  summons,  "'Tis  eight  o'clock,  gentlemen," 
the  announcement,  "  Divine  service  at  half  past  ten." 

At  half  past  ten,  accordingly,  the  bell  on  the  fore- 
castle began  to  toll  for  church,  and  a  procession  of 
sailors,  dressed  in  white  duck,  and  with  broad  blue 
collars  turned  down  over  their  shoulders,  came  aft 
and  entered  the  saloon.  They  walked  up  between  the 
two  rows  of  tables,  and  seated  themselves  toward  the 
stem  of  the  ship,  around  the  ends  of  the  tables  termin- 
ating there.  The  captain  and  some  of  the  more  prom- 
inent of  the  passengers,  with  their  ladies,  were  seated 
at  one  of  the  tables  on  the  side,  which  brought  them 
near  the  middle  of  the  saloon  in  respect  to  its  length. 
The  other  passengers  soon  filled  up  all  the  remainder 
of  the  permanent  seats,  and  then  camp-stools  were 
brought  in  and  occupied,  until  every  portion  of  the 
space  accessible  was  densely  filled. 

The  service  on  board  these  ships  is  that  of  the 
Church  of  England,  as  it  is  very  proper  that  it  should 
be  ;  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  captain,  in  the  absence  of 
a  clergyman  of  that  Church,  to  read  it,  he  being,  as  it 
were,  the  head  of  the  family  which  the  company  on 
board  the  ship,  for  the  time  being,  constitute.  It  is 
true  that  the  captain  may  not  be  a  religious  man ;  and 
on  one  occasion  of  this  kind,  it  seemed  a  little  strange 
to  me,  with  my  New  England  notions,  to  find  the  cap- 
tain arranging  his  bets,  with  now  and  then  a  profane 
expression,  and  disposing  of  his  sea  lottery  tickets  on 


CROSSING  THE  ATLANTIC. 


39 


The  English  Liturgy  at  sea.  The  congregation. 

the  deck,  at  ten  o'clock,  in  order  that,  having  got  this 
business  satisfactorily  arranged,  he  might  be  ready,  at 
half  past  ten,  to  go  into  the  saloon  and  lead  the  devo- 
tions of  a  Christian  congregation.  Bat  traveling  about 
the  v^^orld  in  mature  life  often  cuts  sadly  across  the 
ideas  and  prepossessions  of  childhood.  A  friend  of 
the  establishment  might  say  that  the  prayers  and  prais- 
es of  the  English  Liturgy  may  be  joined  in  heartily  by 
the  vi^orshiper,  w^ithout  paying  any  attention  to  the 
personal  feelings  or  character  of  him  who  reads  it, 
any  more  than  to  those  of  the  printer  w^ho  prints  the 
book,  or  to  those  of  the  organist  or  the  singer  who 
leads  the  music  of  the  chants  and  hymns.  They  are 
all  equally  the  mere  ministerial  instruments,  through 
whose  aid,  more  or  less  directly,  we  clothe  our  ideas 
in  words  as  we  approach  our  Maker ;  and  that  the 
only  points  of  importance  to  us,  in  respect  to  our  per- 
sonal devotions,  are  the  propriety  of  the  words  them- 
selves, and  the  condition  of  our  own  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings. 

And,  in  fact,  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  traveler, 
who  is  disposed  to  make  the  best  of  every  thing,  in- 
stead of  resisting  and  repelling  whatever  is  new  and 
unusual,  will  find  that  it  is  really  so.  At  least,  it  was 
so  in  this  case.  The  captain  read  the  service  with 
great  correctness  and  propriety.  The  sea  was  com- 
paratively smooth.  It  rocked  the  floating  congrega- 
tion gently,  as  if  unwilling  to  disturb  the  adoration  and 
homage  we  were  offering  to  its  own  mighty  Master. 
The  hum  of  children  playing  gently  upon  the  decks 
came  in  at  the  windows  of  the  saloon.  Sea-gulls  were 
sailing  in  circles  over  the  surface  of  the  water.  The 
congregation  seemed  impressed  and  subdued  by  the 


40 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Plan  of  the  lottery.  Its  professed  object 

solemnity  of  the  scene  ;  and  whoever  did  not  make  it 
an  hour  of  sincere  and  heartfelt  worship  must  have 
found  the  fault  in  himself,  and  not  either  in  the  liturgy 
of  the  English  Church,  or  in  the  arrangements  made 
for  conducting,  by  , means  of  it,  public  worship  at  sea. 

THE  LOTTERY. 

July  12,  1847. 

The  last  thing  which  interests  the  passenger  in  a 
voyage  across  the  Atlantic,  previous  to  his  prepara- 
tions for  landing,  is  the  lottery.  I  should  say,  perhaps, 
a  certain  portion  of  the  passengers,  for  it  is  only  a  por- 
tion who  take  any  active  part  in  it.  It  is  a  lottery 
contrived  to  have  the  drawing  of  the  prize  depend 
upon  the  time  of  arrival.  The  plan  is  generally  to  sell 
the  half  hours  of  the  day  at  auction,  to  the  highest  bid- 
der, each  half  hour  being  represented  by  a  ticket  with 
the  time  noted  upon  it.  All  the  money  obtained  by  the 
sale  is  put  together,  and  constitutes  the  prize ;  and  it 
becomes  the  property  of  the  one  who  has  the  ticket  for 
the  half  hour  during  which  the  ship  arrives.  This  sale 
of  tickets  takes  place  some  days  before  the  end  of  the 
voyage,  when  some  judgment  may  be  formed  of  the 
probable  duration  of  the  remaining  portion  of  it ;  though 
not  an  exact  one,  as  much  depends  upon  the  wind  and 
weather  during  the  last  few  days.  The  gentlemen 
who  promote  this  scheme  always  profess  that  their  mo- 
tive is,  not  any  gambling  interest  in  winning  the  prize, 
but  only  a  desire  to  provide  a  means  of  amusement  for 
the  last  hours  of  the  voyage. 

It  would  not  be  convenient  to  have  the  moment  of 
landing  the  time  for  determining  the  disposal  of  the 
prize,  because  at  that  moment  the  ship  is  too  much  a 


CROSSING  THE  ATLANTIC. 


41 


"  Grand  Marine  Lottery."  An  auction.  Stock  market. 

scene  of  bustle  and  excitement  to  admit  of  paying  at- 
tention to  the  settlement  of  such  an  affair.  Accord- 
ingly, some  other  point  of  time  is  usually  taken,  as,  for 
instance,  the  passage  of  a  particular  light-house  or 
buoy,  or,  more  commonly  still,  the  taking  of  a  pilot, 
which  event  takes  place  usually  some  three  or  four 
hours  before  reaching  the  dock. 

In  accordance  with  this  custom,  notice  was  posted 
on  Friday,  three  days  before  the  expected  time  of  our 
arrival,  that  there  would  be  an  auction  sale  of  tickets 
in  the  "  Grand  Marine  Lottery"  at  half  past  one,  which 
would  be  soon  after  lunch.  Quite  a  company  collect- 
ed at  the  appointed  time.  The  auctioneer  took  his 
stand  upon  the  steps  where,  not  many  days  before,  the 
body  of  the  poor  officer  had  been  placed  when  await- 
ing its  awful  plunge  into  the  deep.  The  same  com- 
pany took  their  places  around,  in  the  same  attitudes, 
and  presenting  the  same  general  appearance,  only  the 
expression  of  solemnity  and  awe  of  the  former  occa- 
sion was  now  replaced  by  one  of  frolic  and  fun. 

The  auctioneer  stated  that  the  tickets  would  be  put 
up  at  ten  shillings  sterling  each — which  is  about  two 
dollars  and  a  half — and  would  be  sold  at  or  above  that 
sum  to  the  highest  bidder.  He  then  read  the  conditions 
of  sale,  according  to  the  usual  forms  adopted  in  New 
York,  and  which,  being  utterly  inapplicable  and  absurd 
at  sea,  served  very  well  for  drollery.  The  tickets 
were  all  sold  at  or  above  the  "  upset"  price.  The  fa- 
vorite tickets  were,  as  they  phrased  it,  "  the  A.M.'s, 
from  6  to  9,"  it  being  generally  expected  that  we  should 
take  the  pilot  early  on  Tuesday  morning.  Some  ol 
these  favorite  tickets  sold  for  three  pounds,  equal  to 
fifteen  dollars.    The  whole  purchase  money,  which 

D  2 


42 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Results  of  the  lottery.  Disappointment  and  mortification. 

constituted  the  prize,  came  to  about  twenty-eight  pounds, 
equal  to,  say,  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  dollars; 
enough,  one  would  suppose,  to  excite  quite  a  strong 
gambling  interest  among  the  competitors.  These  tick- 
ets were  sold  afterward,  to  some  extent,  from  one  to 
another ;  but  as  it  became,  in  a  day  or  two,  more  and 
more  certain  that  Tuesday  morning  would  be  the  time, 
all  other  tickets  soon  lost  their  value,  and  the  foolish 
possessors  of  them  seemed  inclined  to  bear  their  loss 
and  their  mortification  in  silence.  In  fact,  far  from  be- 
ing any  source  of  amusement  and  pleasure,  the  whole 
subject  seemed  to  be  very  speedily  dropped,  as  if  by 
common  consent.  Nobody,  at  last,  appeared  to  know 
who  got  the  prize ;  and  the  whole  aflfair  ended,  as  all 
gambling  transactions,  whether  on  a  large  or  small 
scale,  must  necessarily  end,  in  a  sort  of  uneasy  and  half- 
guilty  feeling  of  exultation  on  the  part  of  the  winner  of 
his  companion's  money,  and  in  a  wholly  guilty  feeling 
of  mortification  and  chagrin  on  the  part  of  the  rest. 

I  will  here  close  this  long  account  of  the  voyage,  re- 
serving the  landing  as  a  separate  subject.  The  ac- 
count is,  perhaps,  too  long,  and  too  minute  and  detail- 
ed. It  certainly  is  so  for  those  who  have  made  such 
voyages,  and  are,  consequently,  familiar  wath  such 
scenes.  But  it  is  not  written  for  them ;  it  is  intended 
for  those  who  have  passed  their  days  on  land,  and  who 
can  form  no  distinct  idea  of  the  nature  of  life  at  sea, 
unless  it  is  minutely  described.  The  picture,  such  as 
it  is,  is  drawn  from  the  life,  having  been  written  almost 
entirely  on  shipboard,  in  the  midst  of  the  scenes  which 
it  attempts  to  delineate. 


LANDING.  43 
Land.  Superiority  of  steam.  Cape  Clear. 


LETTE.R  II. 

LANDING  IN  ENGLAND. 

Liverpool,  July  16. 

The  first  thing  which  interests  the  voyager  in  ap- 
proaching the  English  shore  is  the  astonishing  exact- 
ness which  the  art  of  navigation  has  attained  in  ena- 
bling the  ship  to  make  the  land  with  such  precision. 
After -sailing  a  week  over  a  boundless  waste  of  waters, 
for  thousands  of  miles,  through  fogs  and  mists,  and  with 
winds  and  currents  tending  in  all  directions,  and  without 
having,  perhaps,  seen  the  sun  but  once  or  twice  at  noon 
during  the  whole  time,  we  all  go  to  bed  some  evening 
with  the  assurance  that  when  we  rise  the  next  morn- 
ing we  shall  see  Cape  Clear,  in  a  certain  direction  and 
at  a  certain  distance.  And,  accordingly,  when  we 
come  on  deck  in  the  morning,  and  look  in  the  speci- 
fied direction,  there  it  is.  At  least,  this  was  the  result 
in  our  case.  The  steward  told  us  at  night,  when  we 
went  to  our  berths,  that  we  should  see  land  in  the 
morning  ;  and  in  the  morning,  when  he  passed  along,  as 
usual,  to  knock  at  our  state-room  doors,  he  said  at  each 
one,  "  Eight  o'clock,  gentlemen  ;  land  right  ahead  !" 

¥/hen  we  reach  Cape  Clear  we  are  twenty-four 
hours'  sail  from  Liverpool,  and  every  one  is  express- 
ing his  joy  that  we  are  not  in  a  sailing  vessel,  as  in 
that  case  we  might  be  a  week  in  reaching  port.  As 
we  move  rapidly  on,  we,  in  fact,  pass  ships  becalmed, 
or  struggling  up  slowly  against  light  and  contrary 
winds,  while  other  vessels,  leaving  England,  are  com- 
ing down  with  all  sails  set,  but  yet  making  very  slow 
progress.    We  begin  to  realize  that  we  are  actually 

4 


44 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  coast.  Picturesque  scenery.  Steamers. 

drawing  near  to  port.  The  guards  are  taken  off  the 
tables  ;  the  swell  of  the  sea  disappears  ;  the  ship  moves 
steadily.  The  passengers  are  busy  every  where  look- 
ing over  and  arranging  their  letters,  and  making  other 
preparations  to  land  ;  and  the  seamen  are  busily  em- 
ployed, all  over  the  ship,  putting  every  thing  in  a  neat 
and  tidy  condition,  in  respect  to  the  rigging  and  fixtures 
of  every  kind,  so  as  to  be  ready  to  make  a  proper  ap- 
pearance in  port. 

We  are  all  day  going  up  St.  George's  Channel, 
keeping  generally  very  near  the  coast  of  Ireland, 
which  is  picturesque  and  beautiful  in  the  extreme. 
The  hills  are  of  the  softest  green,  with  fields  divided 
by  hedges,  and  varied  in  color  by  the  different  kinds 
of  grain.  These  slopes  continue  to  the  sea,  sometimes 
terminated  by  perpendicular  bluffs  and  precipices  a 
hundred  feet  high,  and  sometimes  descending  gradu^ 
ally  to  the  water,  where  they  are  bounded  by  a  beau- 
tiful beach  of  yellow  sand.  Headlands  and  promon- 
tories project  every  where,  and  the  steamer  keeps  just 
far  enough  from  the  shore  to  go  safely  clear  of  these, 
but  near  enough  to  give  us  distinct  views  of  the  light- 
houses, and  monuments,  and  castles  erected  upon  them. 
These  structures,  and  the  points  they  adorn,  we  iden- 
tify by  means  of  a  great  chart,  which  the  captain 
spreads  for  us  upon  the  wheel-house  on  deck.  Ships 
and  steam-boats  begin  to  be  frequently  seen ;  the  lat- 
ter, large  and  black,  with  their  bright-red  chimneys 
and  long  banners  of  black  smoke,  make  an  imposing 
appearance.  In  fact,  all  day  long,  and  until  the  mists 
of  the  evening  conceal  every  thing  from  our  view,  we 
see  multiplying  around  us,  on  every  side,  the  indica- 
tions of  our  approach  to  the  seat  and  center  of  the 


LANDING. 


45 


Morning.  Reflections,  Approaching  the  dock. 

greatest  and  most  extended  organization  of  human 
wealth  and  power  which  the  world  has  ever  known. 

The  next  morning,  when  we  come  upon  the  deck 
after  breakfast,  and  take  a  survey  of  the  scene  around 
us,  we  feel  this  truth  more  deeply  still.  The  morning 
is  bright  and  clear :  the  air  is  calm.  The  water  is 
smooth,  and  its  surface  is  dotted  every  where  with 
sails,  or  marked  with  long,  comet-like  trains  of  smoke 
from  multitudes  of  steamers.  And  here  are  the  most 
beautiful  shores  in  the  world,  close  under  our  view. 
The  passengers,  those,  at  least,  who  have  not  visited 
Europe  before,  draw  their  camp-stools  up  to  the  rail- 
ing, and  gaze  upon  the  scene  in  silence.  "  Here,  then," 
they  say  to  themselves,  "  is  Ireland,  in  solid  reality. 
Here  is  the  Isle  of  Anglesea.  It  is  no  longer  a  spot 
on  a  map,  or  a  mere  conception  of  the  mind,  as  it  has 
been  to  us  for  so  many  long  years.  It  is  actually  be- 
fore us,  with  real  shores,  real  hills,  and  fields,  and 
groves,  as  substantial  as  Massachusetts  itself.  And 
there  are  the  mountains  of  Wales,  rising  among  those 
mists,  dark  and  sublime.  There  is  Snowdon.  This 
great  expanse  of  water  is  the  Irish  Sea  ;  and  all  these 
foreign-looking  ships  and  steamers  are  hovering  about 
the  far-famed  seat  of  British  industry  and  power." 

The  scene  becomes  more  and  more  exciting  as  we 
approach  and  enter  the  mouth  of  the  Mersey.  Every 
thing  is  new  and  strange.  The  shores  are  of  the  rich- 
est and  most  beautiful  green.  The  forms  of  the  houses, 
the  arrangement  of  the  gardens  and  grounds,  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  boats  and  fishing  craft  in  the  river,  the 
walls  of  the  docks,  and  the  little  black  steamers  shoot- 
ing in  every  direction  over  the  water,  all  call  in  turn 
for  our  attention.    The  ship,  in  going  up  to  town,  steers 


46  SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 

Noise  and  confusion.  Privileged  passengers. 

now  zTi,  now  out,  in  a  most  circuitous  course,  with  much 
loud  calling  of  orders  and  counter  orders  from  the  cap- 
tain on  the  paddle-box,  speaking  trumpet  in  hand.  At 
length  the  motion  of  the  paddle-wheel  ceases,  and  the 
loud  roaring  of  the  enormous  steam-pipe  begins,  as  the 
engineer  lets  off  the  force  now  no  longer  needed.  Two 
small  steamers  come  up  alongside,  one  after  another, 
and  add  their  blasts  to  the  general  din,  and  their  shouts 
and  outcries,  which  nobody  can  understand,  to  the  gen- 
eral confusion.  In  the  mean  time,  the  decks  are  covered 
with  trunks,  valises,  and  bags,  and  nervous  passengers 
are  running  to  and  fro,  looking  for  one  another,  or  dis- 
tracted with, the  question  how  they  are  to  get  themselves 
and  all  their  luggage  on  shore :  a  question  which  they 
can  get  nobody  to  answer.  The  more  calm  and  quiet 
in  spirit  sit  still,  knowing  that  some  how  or  other  pas- 
sengers always  get  ashore  after  a  voyage,  and  so  pa- 
tiently bide  their  time. 

The  little  steamers,  in  the  midst  of  a  deafening  din, 
utterly  indescribable,  take  ihe^  privileged  passengers 
and  the  mails.  The  privileged  passengers  are  the  gov- 
ernmental officers  of  all  kinds,  and  bearers  of  dispatch- 
es. There  are  also  usually  a  few  other  passengers 
who  are  crazy  to  get  ashore  ten  minutes  before  the 
rest,  and  they  crowd  their  way  on  board  these  steam- 
ers ;  and  others  still,  who,  when  they  find  that  this  can 
be  done,  hurry  after  them,  elbowing  their  way,  with 
their  valises  in  their  hands,  through  the  crowds  upon 
the  decks,  and  reach  the  companion  way  when  it  is 
just  too  late,  the  little  steamers  having,  one  after  an- 
other, cast  off  their  lines  and  gone. 

In  the  mean  time,  however,  the  great  floating  mass  on 
which  we  remain,  drifts  slowly  in  toward  the  dock.  In 


LANDING. 


47 


The  custom-house.  Travellers'  complaints, 

due  time  the  lines  are  thrown  out  and  made  fast,  with 
many  detentions  and  delays,  and  the  ship  is  drawn  up 
to  her  place,  the  noise,  confusion,  and  din  increasing  to 
the  last  moment.  I  had  taken  an  opportunity,  half  an 
hour  before,  to  ask  the  steward  what  we  were  to  do  in 
respect  to  our  baggage.  "  Nothing,"  he  said  ;  "  leave 
it  all  just  where  it  is,  and  you  will  find  it  at  the  custom- 
house." I  had  nothing  to  do,  therefore,  when  the  plank 
was  placed,  but  to  walk  on  shore  and  inquire  my  way 
to  the  custom-house. 

Travelers  are  very  fond  of  making  complaints  of  the 
vexations  and  annoyances  which  they  are  subjected  to 
at  the  European  custom-houses.  I  inquired  some  years 
ago,  just  before  making  a  voyage  to  Europe,  of  a  Bos- 
ton gentleman,  in  respect  to  this  subject,  with  a  view 
of  obtaining  the  result  of  his  experience  in  regard  to 
the  method  of  procedure,  and  the  reply  which  I  ob- 
tained was  simply,  "  There  is  no  difficulty,  if  you  are 
honest — no  difficulty,  if  you  are  honest."  I  have  now 
passed  some  ten  or  twelve  custom-house  examinations, 
and  the  result  of  my  experience  is,  that  those  words 
contain  the  solution  of  the  whole  difficulty.  The  truly 
honest  traveler  has  no  difficulty  and  no  vexation  to 
fear,  except,  perhaps,  an  unnecessary  delay  in  landing 
at  London  from  continental  ports.  By  being  honest,  I 
mean  being  willing  to  pay  what  the  law  of  the  land  re- 
quires in  the  shape  of  duties  on  the  property  you  are 
carrying,  and  being  willing  that  the  officer  appointed 
to  collect  the  duty  should  know  fully  what  you  have. 

Some  persons  seem  to  think  it  a  great  hardship  that 
travelers  should  have  to  pay  duty  at  all.  A  gentleman, 
for  example,  has  some  books  in  his  trunk  which  he  is 
.(Toing  to  make  presents  of  to  his  friends  in  England. 


48 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Duties  on  travelers'  property.  Advice. 

He  considers  it  very  hard  that  he  has  any  duty  to  pay 
upon  them,  and  thinks  it  very  small  in  the  government 
to  exact  it.  But  if  we  reflect  that  the  government  is 
at  great  expense  to  provide  light-houses,  and  build  piers 
and  break-waters,  by  the  aid  of  which  this,  as  well  as 
all  other  property,  is  enabled  to  get  into  port ;  and  to 
maintain  a  numerous  police,  and  systems  of  municipal 
regulation,  by  which  it  is  protected  when  it  has  ar- 
rived, there  seems  to  be  no  good  reason  why  it  should 
not  pay  its  share  toward  defraying  these  expenses  ;  and 
though  its  share  may  be  a  very  small  sum,  I  do  not  see 
why  the  littleness,  if  there  is  any  in  the  case,  does  not 
rather  attach  to  the  traveler  in  being  unwilling  to  pay 
the  shilling,  than  to  the  government  which,  in  maintain- 
ing uniformity  in  the  execution  of  its  laws,  exacts  it.  I 
think,  therefore,  though  I  am  aware  this  is  likely  to  be 
very  unpopular  doctrine  among  the  passengers  on  board 
an  Atlantic  steamer,  that  every  man  ought  to  feel  that 
the  government  have  as  good  a  claim  upon  him  for  the 
duty  on  all  the  property  he  carries  with  him,  except 
what  is  formally  exempted  by  law,  as  they  have  on 
whole  cargoes  imported  by  a  merchant.  The  fact  so 
often  urged  that  the  articles  are  not  intended  for  sale, 
but  only  for  one's  own  private  use,  or  for  presents  to 
one's  friends,  does  not  seem  to  have  any  thing  to  do 
with  the  question,  as  the  ground  on  which  the  justice 
of  the  demand  rests,  is  not  the  profit  to  be  made  by  a 
sale,  but  the  benefit  received  in  the  shape  of  the  pro- 
tection of  the  property  from  sea  dangers  on  the  coast, 
and  security  of  possession  on  shore. 

I  advise,  therefore,  all  voyagers,  instead  of  spending 
their  time  in  contriving  ingenious  ways  and  means  to 
conceal  this  thing  and  that  from  the  officers'  eyes,  to 


LANDING. 


49 


Civility  of  custom-house  officers.  Entry  of  names. 

made  up  their  minds  that  it  is  right  for  them  to  pay 
whatever  the  laws  require,  and  then,  on  hmding,  to 
throw  every  facility  in  the  way  of  the  officers  for  the 
proper  discharge  of  their  duties.  As  a  general  thing, 
to  discharge  their  duties  to  their  government  in  a  prop- 
er and  faithful  manner,  seems  to  be  all  that  they  de- 
sire. At  the  various  custom-house  examinations  which 
1  have  witnessed,  probably  an  average  of  five  persons 
have  had  their  effects  examined  and  passed  so  nearly 
at  the  same  time  with  mine  that  I  have  had  the  oppor- 
tunity to  observe  the  operation  in  their  case  as  well  as 
my  own — making  sixty  examinations  in  all.  I  have 
never,  in  any  of  these  instances,  seen  a  bribe  or  fee  of 
any  kind  offered  or  received  ;  and  in  every  case  the 
officer  has  seemed  to  me  to  desire  only  to  do  his  duty, 
and  to  endeavor  to  make  the  discharge  of  it  as  little  in- 
convenient to  the  traveler  as  possible.  I  have,  in  fact, 
never  seen  any  thing  wrong,  except  the  unworthy  ef- 
forts of  gentlemen  and  ladies,  from  mistaken  views  of 
the  subject,  to  throw  obstacles  in  the  way  of  an  exam- 
ination of  their  effects,  or  to  contrive  some  way  to 
elude  the  fair  application  of  the  laws. 

On  landing  at  Liverpool,  those  travelers  who  know 
the  routine  hasten  immediately  to  the  custom-house  to 
enter  their  names  in  a  book,  in  which  a  record  is  kept 
of  the  order  of  the  appHcations.  It  is  important  to  get 
an  early  entry  upon  this  record,  as  the  baggage  is  ex- 
amined in  the  order  in  which  the  names  stand  there. 
On  going  into  the  building  for  this  purpose,  we  found 
ourselves  in  a  large  open  apartment  with  a  stone  floor, 
a  part  of  the  area  on  one  side  being  inclosed  by  a  low, 
but  very  substantial  railing.  There  was  a  gate  lead- 
ing into  this  inclosure,  and  a  desk  at  one  end,  where 

E 


50 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Scene  on  landing.  Another  at  the  custom-house. 

we  entered  our  names  as  we  came  in.  There  were  few 
persons  present  at  the  time,  as  most  of  the  passengers, 
unacquainted  with  the  usage,  were  still  hovering  about 
the  ship  in  a  sort  of  feverish  uncertainty  and  anxiety 
about  their  baggage.  All  this  solicitude  at  such  a  time 
does  no  good,  for  the  landing  of  a  hundred  and  twenty 
passengers  in  such  a  scene,  the  getting  on  shore  of  four 
or  five  immense  cart-loads  of  trunks,  portmanteaus,  and 
carpet-bags,  amid  a  thundering  of  the  steam-pipe,  which 
makes  all  but  the  loudest  vociferation  inaudible,  is  a 
scene  in  which  a  man  soon  finds  he  is  helpless,  and  that 
he  has  only  to  cast  himself  upon  the  torrent  and  be 
borne  wherever  it  carries  him.  My  table  mess-mates 
and  myself,  after  entering  our  names,  walked  quietly 
about  the  docks  and  streets  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
custom-house,  leaving  things  to  take  their  course,  for  a 
couple  of  hours,  and  then,  on  returning,  we  found  that 
the  movement  and  noise  had  been  pretty  effectually 
transferred  from  the  pier  where  the  ship  was  lying  to 
the  great  hall  in  the  custom-house.  The  floor  was 
covered  with  heaps  of  trunks,  boxes,  and  bags,  and  the 
custom-house  porters  were  bringing  in  fresh  additions 
to  the  mass,  in  a  continued  stream,  from  the  great  drays 
at  the  door.  The  passengers  were  standing  all  about 
the  floor,  or  sitting  upon  their  trunks,  or  crowding  the 
side-walks  ;  some  talking  calmly  and  quietly,  as  if  it 
were  an  every-day  scene ;  some  looking  around  anx- 
iously for  a  lost  carpet-bag ;  and  some  standing  per- 
plexed and  confounded  with  the  hubbub  and  noise, 
wondering,  apparently,  how  such  a  tumultuous  scene 
would  end. 

When  the  baggage  was  all  in,  the  names  were  called 
off  in  the  order  of  the  record,  half  a  dozen  at  a  time, 


LANDING. 


61 


Books  and  cigars.  Officer's  discretion. 

and  their  effects  were  taken  within  the  inclosure  for 
examination.  Now  the  great  thing  in  searching  trunks 
from  America  at  the  Liverpool  custom-house  is  to  look 
for  hooks  and  cigars,  as  there  is  scarcely  any  thing 
else,  subject  to  duty,  which  is  at  all  likely  to  come  to 
this  port  in  passengers'  baggage.  The  simple  thing 
you  have  to  do,  therefore,  at  the  Liverpool  office,  is  to 
show  the  officer,  as  quick  as  you  can,  how  many  books 
and  cigars  you  have  got.  As  to  cigars,  each  passen- 
ger is.  allowed  a  small  quantity  free.  As  to  books, 
American  reprints  of  English  books  are  not  admitted 
at  all,  but  are  forfeited,  if  found.  English  books,  print- 
ed in  Britain,  are  free ;  and  American  books  are  sub- 
ject to  the  payment  of  a  duty.  Of  course,  it  is  not  pos- 
sible to  prescribe  the  precise  degree  of  strictness  with 
which  these  rules  are  to  be  enforced  ;  much  must  de- 
pend upon  the  discretion  of  the  officer  ;  but  I  think  the 
surest  way  for  the  traveler  to  incline  that  discretion  in 
his  favor  is  to  afford  every  possible  facility  to  the  of- 
ficer for  ascertaining  the  facts.  Put  all  the  books  and 
cigars  at  the  top  of  the  trunk,  so  that  they  shall  appear 
immediately  on  opening  it,  and  then  convince  the  officer, 
by  the  most  thorough  opening  to  view  of  what  is  be- 
low, that  there  is  nothing  more  concealed.  In  nine 
cases  out  of  ten  he  is  very  easily  satisfied.  In  fact, 
from  long  habit  of  dealing  with  all  sorts  of  characters, 
he  reads  your  honesty  of  purpose  in  your  countenance  ; 
and,  according  to  my  experience,  he  feels  a  strong  de- 
sire to  interpret  the  laws  as  liberally  as  possible  in 
your  favor  when  you  evince  such  a  disposition  to  aid 
him  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty,  and  acquiesce  your- 
self in  the  decision  of  the  laws. 

Some  persons  foolishly  undertake  to  satisfy  the  offi- 


52 


SUMiMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  dressing  case.  Complaints. 

cer  in  part  by  their  own  statements,  as  if  a  public  officer, 
in  such  a  case,  was  to  take  the  word  of  an  utter  stran- 
ger. I  have,  for  example,  sometimes  heard  such  a 
dialogue  as  this.  A  gentleman  has  had  his  trunk  ex- 
amined, and  then,  when  he  comes  to  his  dressing-case, 
which  appears  in  the  shape  of  a  square  box,  put  up  in  a 
canvas  bag  made  to  fit  it,  and  which,  from  all  that  ap- 
pears upon  the  outside,  might  be  full  of  cigars,  says, 
"And  that  is  my  dressing-case;  you  don't  wish  to  ex- 
amine that?"  "rU  look  at  it,  if  you  please,"  says  the 
officer.  "  Why,  it  is  a  great  deal  of  trouble  to  open  it 
and  put  it  up  again,"  says  the  gentleman ;  "  and  there 
is  nothing  in  it  but  my  dressing  apparatus,  I  assure 
you,  upon  my  honor."  "  Just  open  it,  if  you  please, 
sir,"  persists  the  officer.  The  gentleman  opens  his 
case,  and  shows  that  his  words  were  true,  and  goes 
away  at  last,  vexed  out  of  all  patience  at  the  unreason- 
ableness of  custom-house  officers. 

The  officers,  whether  it  is  reasonable  or  not,  will  not 
take  the  word  of  travelers  about  the  contents  of  par- 
cels, but  insist  upon  seeing  for  themselves  ;  and  it  al- 
ways appears  to  me  that  they  are  very  apt  to  be  spe- 
cially strict  in  applying  the  rules  of  the  law  in  the  case 
of  finding  any  thing  hid  away  in  inaccessible  places,  or 
when  there  has  been  an  interposition  of  any  difficulties, 
on  the  part  of  the  traveler,  in  the  way  of  a  full  and 
thorough  examination.  One  incident  which  occurred 
at  this  Liverpool  custom-house  appeared  to  me  to  be 
an  illustration  of  this.  It  seems  that  the  law  authorizes 
every  passenger  to  take  in  a  certain  small  weight  of 
cigars,  free  of  duty;  and  I,  having  none  of  my  own, 
offered  to  take  a  part  of  those  belonging  to  one  of  my 
traveling  companions,  as  he  had  more  than  the  amount 


LANDING. 


53 


The  carpet  bag  and  cigars.  Rigid  enforcemunt  of  the  law. 

allowed,  deeming  myself  entitled  to  use  the  privilege 
for  the  benefit  of  another  person,  as  well  as  for  myself. 
He  gave  me,  accordingly,  about  half  his  cigars,  and  I 
placed  them  in  the  top  of  the  first  trunk  which  I  was 
to  open.  The  officer  paid  no  attention  to  them  what- 
ever. Reexamined  the  books  which  I  had  with  some 
appearance  of  hesitation,  but  finally  concluded  to  make 
no  charge.  The  owner  of  the  cigars  put  the  part 
which  he  had  retained  in  his  possession  into  a  small 
carpet  bag,  which  he  did  not  produce  until  every  thing 
else  had  been  examined ;  and  then  there  was,  unfortu- 
nately, some  difficulty  about  the  lock,  and  he  could 
not  get  it  open.  I  did  not  know  at  the  time  that  his 
cigars  were  in  this  bag,  and  as  the  bag  itself  was  small, 
and  appeared  to  contain  nothing  but  linen,  I  expected 
to  hear  the  officer  say  that  it  was  of  no  consequence. 
But  no  ;  he  stood  by  quietly,  in  a  waiting  attitude, 
which  said  very  plainly  that  the  bag  must  be  opened. 
He  tried  himself  to  unlock  it,  and  produced  some  other 
keys  ;  and,  finally,  he  left  it,  saying  that  he  would  ex- 
amine another  passenger's  trunks  which  were  all  ready, 
and  return  again,  when,  perhaps,  the  gentleman  would 
have  succeeded  in  opening  the  lock.  He  did  so,  and, 
on  examining  the  contents  of  the  bag,  the  cigars  ap- 
peared at  the  bottom  of  it.  The  officer  very  quietly 
put  them  into  the  scales,  found  them  to  exceed  the  limit 
a  little,  and  charged  duty  on  the  whole,  which  is  the 
law,  in  case  an  excess  is  found.  The  duty  amounted 
to  some  dollars.  It  is  true,  the  gentleman  had  retained 
a  rather  larger  supply  of  the  cigars  than  he  had  given 
to  me,  but  the  amount  was  not  greatly  different ;  and 
I  could  not  but  think  that  the  officer's  letting  the  one 
parcel  pass  without  the  least  question,  while  he  applied 

E  2 


54 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Leaving  the  custom-house.  An  English  inn.  The  bed-room. 

the  law  so  directly  and  rigidly  to  the  other,  was  influ- 
enced in  no  small  degree  by  the  circumstances  of  the 
case.  I  am  sure,  however,  that  these  circumstances 
were,  in  fact,  entirely  accidental,  and  did  not  result  at 
all  from  any  desire  on  the  part  of  my  companion  to 
deceive  the  officer ;  for,  besides  the  honesty  and  fair- 
ness of  his  character,  he  was  too  much  a  man  of  the 
world,  and  too  well  acquainted  with  every  thing  con- 
nected with  the  commercial  intercourse  between  En- 
gland and  America,  to  have  thought  of  such  a  plan  as 
concealing  any  thing  from  an  English  custom-house 
officer,  by  means  of  having  a  carpet  bag  padlock  out 
of  order. 

Those  who  succeed  in  getting  their  luggage  exam- 
ined and  passed  in  good  season  follow  the  porter,  who, 
with  a  great  trunk  on  his  shoulder,  and  two  carpet 
bags  in  his  hand,  forces  his  way  out  of  the  crowd 
against  a  prodigious  force  of  men  and  luggage  of  ev- 
ery kind  pressing  toward  the  inclosure.  In  such  a 
case  you  find  a  cab  at  the  sidewalk,  and  you  drive 
to  the  inn.  You  are  set  down  before  the  door  of  a 
house  which  has  the  quiet  air  of  a  private  dwelling. 
The  landlord,  the  bar-maid,  and  the  "  boots"  come  to 
receive  you.  You  ask  for  a  bed-room,  and  the  bar- 
maid rings  the  chamber-maid's  bell.  The  chamber- 
maid appears,  dressed  very  neatly,  with  ruffles  and 
cap.  She  shows  you  into  a  room,  which  has  an  in- 
describable EngUsh  expression  of  comfort.  There  is 
a  great  canopy  of  curtains  over  the  bed ;  there  is  a 
dressing-table,  covered  with  a  very  nice  white  cloth ; 
there  is  a  stand  for  the  trunk  ;  and  a  very  comfortable- 
looking  cushioned  chair  in  the  corner.  These  prem- 
ises do  not  appear  at  all  to  disadvantage  in  your  view, 


LANDING. 


65 


The  coffee-room.  Taking  meals.  Furniture. 

after  having  been  for  a  fortnight  confined  to  the  little 
cuddy  on  bpard  ship,  absurdly  called  a  state-room. 
You  long  for  night  to  come,  that  you  may  enjoy  the 
luxury  of  sleeping  once  more  in  a  real  bed. 

At  length  you  descend  to  the  coffee-room.  In  En- 
gland it  is  the  universal  custom  for  gentlemen  travel- 
ing with  ladies,  and  often  for  gentlemen  when  travel- 
ing alone,  to  take  their  meals  in  rooms  by  themselves, 
so  that  by  far  the  largest  part  of  the  company  at  an 
inn  do  not  mix  with,  or  even  see,  each  other  at  all. 
And  as  to  the  rest  of  the  guests,  those  who  do  not  take 
sitting-rooms,  it  is  the  custom  for  them  to  take  their 
meals  at  different  hours  during  the  day,  according  to 
their  individual  convenience ;  so  that  a  small  number 
of  tables  answers  for  a  great  number  of  guests.  The 
coffee-rooin  is,  therefore,  comparatively  speaking,  a 
small  room,  and  it  has  a  type  and  character  altogether 
its  own.  As  you  enter  it,  you  find  a  screen  at  a  little 
distance  from  the  door  to  conceal  the  interior  from  ob- 
servation. The  walls  are  of  oak  wainscoting,  hung 
with  pictures,  or  they  are  covered  with  paper  of  some 
sober  and  warm  color.  There  are  four  or  five  tables 
in  the  room,  of  vei-y  dark  and  highly-polished  mahog- 
any, two  or  three  of  them,  perhaps,  being  partially  set 
for  breakfast  or  for  dinner.  These  tables  are  not 
alike,  and  they  are  not  placed  in  rows,  numbered  and 
ticketed,  as  they  would  be  in  America,  like  pens  for 
sheep.  There  is  a  certain  symmetry  in  their  arrange- 
ment, it  is  true,  but  it  is  combined  with  an  ease,  and 
grace,  and  variety  which  gives  to  every  one,  as  a  place 
for  breakfasting  or  dining,  a  different  expression  from 
the  rest.  There  is  a  writing-table  somewhere,  with  a 
bronze  inkstand  and  a  blotter  upon  it ;  and  there  is  a 


56 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Neat  arrangement  The  host  Contrasts. 

side-table,  with  fruit,  or  supplies  of  silver  spoons  and 
wine-glasses,  and  other  articles  likely  to  be  in  frequent 
demand ;  and  a  round  table,  with  a  guide  book,  and  a 
directory,  and  the  morning's  paper,  and  perhaps  a  book 
of  maps,  all  neatly  arranged  upon  it.  All  these  arti- 
cles of  furniture,  and  others  of  the  same  character,  are 
placed  in  such  a  manner  as  to  give  a  very  social  and 
comfortable  aspect  and  expression  to  the  room.  The 
presiding  genius  of  the  scene  is  a  very  respectable- 
looking  gentleman,  with  highly-polished  shoes,  white 
stockings,  and  white  cravat,  who  steps  about  noiseless- 
ly, speaks  in  an  under  tone,  and  sets  the  table  with  a 
dexterity  and  grace  acquired  by  the  uninterrupted 
practice  of  twenty  years.  He  answers  to  the  name  of 
John,  or  Thomas,  and  to  all  your  orders  he  listens  with 
the  most  respectful  air  imaginable,  and  says,  "  Very 
well,  sir."  You  look  around  upon  this  snug  and  com- 
fortable-looking scene,  and  reflect  that  you  are  at  one 
of  the  largest  hotels  in  Liverpool,  a  city  which  English- 
men compare  to  New  York.  A  vision  floats  before 
your  imagination  of  the  great  dining-halls,  and  read- 
ing-rooms, and  public  parlors  of  the  Astor  or  the  Tre- 
mont,  and  the  contrast  makes  you  feel  that  you  are  in 
a  foreign  land.  The  wild  dream  of  the  voyage  is  over, 
and  you  are  really  and  truly  in  England. 


THE   MANUFACTURING  DISTRICT. 


57 


Outline  of  the  manufacturing  district.  Steam. 


LETTER  III. 

A  RIDE   THROUGH   THE   MANUFACTURING  DISTRICT. 

If  the  reader  will  refer  to  a  map  of  England,  and 
trace  upon  it  with  the  eye  the  following  described  line, 
he  will  mark  out  approximately  the  boundaries  of  what 
is  called  the  manufacturing  district  of  England.  Be- 
ginning at  Liverpool,  go  north  to  Lancaster  ;  thence 
northeast  to  Newcastle ;  south,  through  York,  to  Not- 
tingham ;  southwest  to  Birmingham  ;  and  from  Bir- 
mingham back  again  to  Liverpool.  This  boundary  in- 
closes an  extensive  region,  which  has  been  supplied  by 
nature  with  inexhaustible  stores  of  coal  and  iron ;  and 
coal  and  iron  are,  in  the  present  age  of  the  world,  the 
great  elements  of  national  prosperity  and  power.  The 
inhabitants  of  this  region  make  machinery  with  the  iron, 
and  drive  it  with  the  coal ;  and  with  such  machinery, 
so  driven,  they  supply  the  world  with  manufactures  and 
fabrics. 

It  is  true  that  many  points  in  this  district  were  man- 
ufacturing centers  before  the  use  of  steam,  as  a  source 
of  power,  was  discovered.  But  as  soon  as  this  discov- 
ery was  made,  it  operated  to  give  an  enormous  stimu- 
lus to  all  manufactures  situated  in  places  where  coal 
and  iron  could  be  commanded.  This  was  remarkably 
the  case  with  the  region  marked  out  above.  Tall  chim- 
neys rose  gradually  from  every  part  of  it,  carrying  up 
the  smoke  and  steam  of  thousands  of  furnaces  and  en- 
gines, and  it  has  become  the  center  and  focus  of  the 
mechanical  operations  of  the  world. 

The  lines  above  described  do  not  by  any  means 
mark  out  this  district  exactly.    It  is  only  a  general 


58 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


?ort  of  Liverpool  The  tide.  Basins. 

idea,  which  I  mean  to  give  by  them,  of  the  part  of  the 
island  in  which  the  region  of  forges,  furnaces,  and  ma- 
chinery lies. 

When  the  manufacturing  interests  in  this  quarter  be- 
gan to  assume  magnitude  and  importance,  the  most  con- 
venient place  of  deep  water  accessible  by  ships  going 
to  and  coming  from  it  was  found  to  be  Liverpool. 
There  were  enormous  quantities  of  iron,  and  machines, 
and  manufactured  goods  to  be  taken  away;  and  cotton, 
dye  stuffs,  and  other  materials,  which  will  not  grow  in 
England,  to  be  brought.  This  required,  consequently, 
a  sea-port  of  spacious  accommodations.  Liverpool  was 
well  situated,  but  there  was  one  difficulty  in  the  way 
of  employing  it  advantageously.  The  tide  rises  and 
falls  so  much — about  twenty  feet,  which  is  much  more 
than  in  most  other  parts  of  the  world — that  ships  could 
not  lie  near  the  shore.  Besides  the  inconvenience  of 
the  rising  and  falling  of  such  a  vast  mass  of  shipping 
twenty  feet  twice  in  twenty-four  hours,  which  would, 
of  course,  interrupt  the  process  of  loading  and  unload- 
ing, there  was  another  difficulty,  viz.,  that  places  where 
there  would  be  a  great  depth  of  water  at  high  tide 
would  be  left  bare  when  the  tide  was  down.  To  ob- 
viate these  inconveniences,  the  Liverpool  merchants 
have  built  a  series  of  large  basins  along  the  shore  of 
the  town,  with  gates  in  the  outer  walls  opening  toward 
the  river.  The  walls  inclosing  these  basins  are  of  the 
most  substantial  masonry,  and  ranges  of  sheds  and 
warehouses  are  constructed  along  the  sides  next  the 
shore.  When  the  tide  is  high,  the  outer  gates  can  be 
opened,  and  ships  floated  in  from  the  channel,  and 
brought  close  to  the  warehouses  where  they  are  to  be 
unloaded.    As  soon  as  the  tide  begins  to  fall  the  gates 


THE  MANUFACTURING  DISTRICT. 


69 


The  Liverpool  docks.  Intercourse  with  America. 

are  closed,  and  thus  the  egress  of  the  water  is  prevent- 
ed. The  ships  are,  consequently,  kept  afloat,  and  are 
sustained  at  their  proper  level  for  being  unladen  easi- 
ly upon  the  piers,  though  they  are  of  course  imprison- 
ed in  the  basin  until  the  tide  rises  again,  and  allows  of 
the  opening  of  the  outer  gates.  These  docks^  as  they 
are  called,  are  very  celebrated  all  over  the  commer- 
cial world.  They  are  now  very  numerous,  and  some 
of  them  are  enormously  extensive.  They  line  the 
whole  shore,  and  are  often  crowded  with  the  shipping 
which  comes  to  bring  cotton  from  America,  and  to  take 
manufactured  goods  away.  The  Liverpool  docks  are 
regarded  as  constituting,  in  fact,  one  of  the  wonders  of 
the  world. 

The  manufacturing  district,  including  Liverpool  as 
its  port,  attracts  great  attention  from  all  who  are  in- 
terested in  studying  the  elements  of  the  greatness  and 
glory  of  England.  Of  course,  this  region  and  its  port 
have  a  more  direct  intercourse  with  America  than  any 
other  portion  of  the  island.  Our  main  lines  of  pack- 
ets and  steamers  go  to  Liverpool,  as  the  largest  por- 
tion of  business  travelers  wish  to  land  there.  Pleasure 
travelers,  whose  destination  is  London  and  France, 
though  they  generally  feel  little  interest  in  goods  and 
machinery,  submit  to  the  necessity  of  landing  in  Liv- 
erpool too,  though  their  first  object,  after  passing  the 
custom-house,  is  generally  to  get  into  the  London  train 
as  soon  as  possible,  and  to  be  landed,  without  the  inter- 
vention of  a  single  night,  at  their  hotel  in  the  west  end 
of  the  metropolis. 

My  plan  was  at  this  time  a  little  different.  I  was 
going  to  Edinburgh,  and  as  there  was  no  rail-road  on 
the  western  side  of  the  island,  after  spending  a  day  or 


60 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Rail-way  station.  Stamping  machines. 

two  in  Liverpool  I  was  to  strike  across  the  country  to 
York,  in  order  to  take  the  great  rail-road  to  the  north 
on  the  eastern  side. 

I  took  my  place,  accordingly,  in  the  train  from  Liv- 
erpool, through  Manchester,  to  York.  The  depot — or 
the  station,  as  it  is  more  properly  called  in  England — 
is  an  enormous  building  of  the  most  substantial  struc- 
ture, and  of  no  little  architectural  pretension  ;  looking, 
in  fact,  more  like  a  city  hall  thaft  an  office  for  the  dis- 
patch of  travelers.  We  entered  a  spacious  hall,  where 
we  took  our  places  in  a  line  formed  before  the  ticket 
master's  counter,  and  advanced  in  the  line  in  regular 
order,  so  that  each  new-comer  could  be  served  in  his 
proper  turn.  The  ticket  officer  had  a  little  machine 
before  him,  by  means  of  which  he  stamped  every  ticket 
with  a  number  before  delivering  it  to  the  applicant. 
The  machine  contained  a  sort  of  clock-work,  so  that  it 
shifted  the  number  each  time,  as  an  impression  was 
made,  to  the  one  next  higher,  and  it  made  a  record  at 
the  same  time  of  the  number  of  impressions  which  were 
taken.  Thus,  at  the  end  of  the  day,  the  index  showed 
how  many  tickets  the  clerk  had  sold.  He  could  not 
stamp  two  with  the  same  number,  for  the  numbers 
were  changed  of  themselves,  by  the  internal  mechanism 
of  the  machine  ;  and  he  could  not  safely  issue  a  ticket 
without  stamping  it,  for  if  he  should  do  so,  it  would  at 
once  be  discovered  by  the  conductor — or  guard,  as  he 
is  here  called — when  he  collected  the  tickets  of  the 
passengers. 

This  k!nd  of  minuteness  of  machinery  for  regulating 
the  transaction  of  such  business  is  carried  to  a  much 
greater  extent  generally  in  Europe  than  in  America. 
In  Paris,  for  example,  there  is  in  every  omnibus  a  con- 


THE  MANUFACTURING  DISTRICT. 


61 


Paris  omnibus.  American  management 

ductor,  who  admits  the  passengers  and  receives  the 
fare.  To  insure  his  accounting  for  all  that  he  receives, 
there  is  a  piece  of  clock-work,  with  a  bell  attached  to 
it,  hung  up  in  the  omnibus,  by  the  door.  Every  time 
a  passenger  enters,  the  conductor  has  to  pull  a  cord, 
which  strikes  a  bell,  and  moves  an  index  forward  one 
degree.  If  two  pas'sengers  enter  together,  of  course  he 
strikes  it  twice.  If  he  omits  this  signal,  the  coachman 
and  all  the  passengers  know  that  he  is  dishonest,  and 
he  incurs  great  risk  of  being  exposed.  And  as  the  in- 
dex moves  forward  one  degree  every  time  the  cord  is 
pulled,  the  proprietors  of  the  line  know  at  night  just 
how  many  passengers  have  entered  the  coach  during 
'the  day.  In  America  how  different !  There  is  no  con- 
ductor. The  coachman  takes  the  fares  through  a  round 
opening  in  front  of  the  coach.  There  is  no  check  upon 
his  accounts  ;  in  fact,  he  keeps  no  accounts.  He  just 
empties  his  pockets  at  night  at  the  office ;  and  if  the 
proprietor  finds  that  his  payments  do  not  average  as 
much  as  those  of  other  drivers  on  similar  lines,  he  dis- 
misses him,  without  stopping  to  inquire  whether  the 
failure  is  owing  to  his  want  of  activity  in  securing  pas- 
sengers, or  to  want  of  honesty  in  paying  over  the  pro- 
ceeds. 

But  to  return  to  the  rail-way.  There  was  a  certain 
number  of  officials  at  the  station,  with  a  peculiar  dress, 
and  with  inscriptions  upon  their  hats,  designating  them 
as  rail-way  servants.  It  is  their  province  to  receive 
and  secure  the  baggage,  and  to  wait  upon  the  passen- 
gers, directing  them  to  their  proper  seats,  and  taking 
care  that  they  do  not,  by  mistake,  get  into  the  wrong 
cars.  In  America  the  passengers  take  care  of  them- 
selves.   The  English  rail-way  servants  are  very  at- 

F 


62 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Conveniences  and  costs.  Classes  of  cars. 

tentive  and  civil,  and  their  assistance  diminishes  very 
much  the  nervous  sort  of  solicitude  which  most  people 
feel  in  getting  their  places  in  a  rail- way  train.  Many 
American  travelers  are  earnest  in  their  praises  of  these 
conveniences,  and  say  to  one  another,  How  admirably 
every  thing  is  regulated  in  England.  This  would  be 
all  very  well  if  they  did  not,  within  the  next  hour,  com- 
plain of  the  exorbitance  of  the  demands  every  where 
made  upon  them  in  England,  having  to  pay  twice  as 
often,  and  twice  as  much,  as  in  America.  The  fact 
seems  to  be  that  in  Europe  the  government  takes  care 
of  the  people,  taxing  them  well  to  pay  the  expense.  In 
America  the  people  take  care  of  themselves,  and  so 
save  their  money.  It  is  true  that  in  this  case  it  is  the 
government  of  the  rail-way  company,  and  not  that  of 
the  queen,  which  acts,  but  the  principle  is  the  same. 

There  are  four  classes  of  cars  upon  the  English 
rail-roads,  designed  respectively  for  as  many  different 
grades  of  passengers,  it  being  considered  a  very  essen- 
tial point  in  England  to  keep  up  every  where,  very 
distinctly,  the  lines  of  demarkation  w^hich  separate  the 
different  ranks  of  society.  We,  of  course,  as  true  re- 
publicans, decided  ourselves  to  belong  to  the  first  rank, 
and  accordingly  entered  a  first-class  car.  These  cars 
are  constructed  very  differently  from  those  used  in  our 
country.  The  interior  of  each  car,  instead  of  being 
finished  in  one  large  apartment,  with  a  passage  way 
up  and  down  the  middle,  and  settees  or  chairs  upon  the 
sides,  is  divided  into  three  or  four  compartments,  with 
doors  in  the  sides  of  each,  and  two  seats  running  across 
the  car,  like  the  seats  of  a  coach.  Of  course,  half  the 
company  have  to  ride  backward.  The  object  of  this 
arrangement  is  the  seclusion  of  the  passengers,  as  fai 


THE  MANUFACTURING  DISTRICT. 


63 


Distinction  of  ranks.  English  and  American  ideas. 

as  possible,  and  to  carry  out  completely  the  system  of 
a  distinction  of  ranks,  by  enabling  those  of  the  first 
class  to  subdivide  themselves  and  keep  separate  from 
each  other.  In  fact,  all  the  arrangements  of  traveling 
in  England  seem  to  keep  this  object  continually  in  view. 
To  put  a  large  company  of  dukes,  squires,  lav^^yers, 
merchants,  and  clerks — even  if  they  are  all  well  dress- 
ed and  gentlemanly  in  manners — into  one  great  coach 
together,  w^ould  be  considered  in  England  very  demo- 
cratic and  ungenteel,  and,  of  course,  absolutely  intol- 
erable. Besides,  there  is  something  very  inconsistent 
with  English  ideas  of  propriety  in  such  a  wholesale  mode 
of  management  as  putting  fifty  ladies  and  gentlemen  to- 
gether, making  of  them,  as  it  were,  one  mass,  and  trans- 
porting them  from  place  to  place  as  a  whole.  In  Amer- 
ica we  think  this  is  a  fine  idea.  We  are  doing  a  great 
business  by  it.  We  work  to  advantage  in  accomplish- 
ing the  result.  In  England  they  look  not  exclusively 
at  the  result,  but  pay  some  attention — too  much,  per- 
haps— to  what  they  regard  a  genteel  and  proper  way 
of  accomplishing  it.  They  preserve,  as  much  as  possi- 
ble, the  independent  individuality  of  every  traveler. 
This  is  strikingly  the  case  at  the  inns  and  hotels.  An 
English  inn  is  as  close  an  imitation  as  can  be  made  of 
a  private  house.  Every  thing  is  kept  still  and  quiet 
about  the  doors.  The  party  arriving,  if  of  any  conse- 
quence, is  received  by  the  landlord  and  landlady,  the 
chamber-maid  and  porter  (called  always  hoots),  in  the 
way,  precisely,  that  a  gentleman  would  be  received  by 
his  servants  at  his  owuTCsidence  in  the  country.  They 
are  conducted  at  once  to  then'  own  rooms,  where  they 
Hve  in  perfect  seclusion,  scarcely  seeing  or  hearing  of 
any  other  guests  in  the  house  during  their  stay.    It  is 


64 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Plan  of  English  hotels  and  inns.  Its  advantages  and  evils. 

true,  there  is  a  public  room,  called  the  coffee-room,  as 
has  been  already  described,  where  single  gentlemen 
take  their  meals  ;  but  even  in  this  public  room  the  gen- 
tlemen are  all  studiously  separated  from  each  other. 
Each  has  his  separate  breakfast,  at  his  own  separate 
table,  served  very  particularly  for  himself  alone.  This 
system  continues  through  all  the  grades  of  hotels  and 
inns,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest.  Even  in  the  hum- 
blest village  public,  where  but  one  table  in  the  coffee- 
room  can  be  afforded,  if  two  guests  come  in  together, 
each  has  his  own  separate  breakfast,  on  his  own  ex- 
clusive portion  of  the  board.  Putting  two  strangers 
together,  and  giving  them  one  double  breakfast  be- 
tween them,  strikes  an  Englishman  very  much  as  it 
would  us  to  give  them  one  double-sized  plate,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  convenience  and  economy.  Judge,  then,  of  the 
astonishment  of  an  Englishman  in  being  summoned  by 
a  gong,  at  the  Astor  or  the  Tremont,  to  go  in  with  a 
hundred  others  in  a  throng,  to  "  be  dined"  by  twenty 
waiters,  as  if  by  contract  ! 

How  much  better  the  English  system  is  !  exclaims 
the  reader.  In  some  respects  it  is  undoubtedly  better  ; 
but  it  makes  the  traveler  very  solitary.  Then,  besides, 
all  this  separate  provision,  this  individuality  of  attend- 
ance, must  be  paid  for.  The  Tremont  dinner  costs,  per- 
haps, a  dollar.  The  same  repast,  ordered  and  served 
individually  at  the  Brunswick  Hotel  in  London,  would 
be  nearer  a  pound.  In  America,  in  a  word,  you  se- 
cure the  main  points  of  comfort  or  luxury,  as  the  case 
may  be,  and  dispense  with  the*pomp  and  parade.  In 
England,  on  the  other  hand,  your  vanity  is  flattered 
by  a  constant  recognition  of  your  individual  import- 
ance ;  but  you  must  pay  a  double  price,  in  considera- 


THE  MANUFACTURING  DISTRICT. 


65 


First-class  cars.  Their  luxurious  accommodations. 

tion  of  it,  or  else  submit  to  a  great  reduction  in  the  val- 
ue of  the  more  substantial  benefits  you  receive. 

To  return  to  the  rail-way.  Each  seat  in  the  com- 
partments of  the  first-class  cars  is  divided,  by  broad 
and  well-stuffed  arms,  into  three  sittings,  each  of  which 
is,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  a  very  capacious  and 
comfortable  arm-chair,  stuffed  and  lined  in  a  very  lux- 
urious manner.  There  are  a  multitude  of  other  conven- 
iences besides,  varying,  indeed,  in  the  different  lines, 
but  sufficient,  in  all  cases,  to  secure  to  the  traveler  a 
high  degree  of  elegant  ease  in  his  journey.  You  will 
find,  perhaps,  for  instance,  a  wedge-shaped  cushion  be- 
hind you,  placed  with  the  thick  part  down,  and  taper- 
ing to  an  edge  above.  This  cushion  is  suspended  by  a 
long  cord,  and  may  be  hung  at  different  heights  by 
means  of  it,  there  being  three  hooks  at  different  eleva- 
tions above.  Thus  the  traveler  may  accommodate  the 
back  of  his  arm-chair  to  the  conformation  of  his  own 
figure,  or  to  the  varying  positions  which  fatigue  or  de- 
sire of  change  may  require.  There  are  straps  and  oth- 
er conveniences  overhead  for  receiving  hats,  bonnets, 
and  umbrellas  ;  and  a  lamp,  always  burning  in  a  sort 
of  sky-light  in  the  center,  but  never  seen  until  we  enter 
some  gloomy  tunnel  and  need  its  light,  when  it  bright- 
ens into  view,  and  cheers  and  enlivens  the  compart- 
ments, as  if  suddenly  lighted  by  an  unseen  hand.  There 
are  stuffed  supports  on  each  side,  at  the  proper  height, 
upon  which  the  traveler  may  lean  his  head,  if  inclined 
to  sleep,  and  foot-stools  for  the  feet,  and  bands,  like 
those  of  private  coaches,  to  support  the  hands. 

Every  exertion  is  thus  made  to  render  the  first-class 
cars  as  attractive  as  possible,  in  order  to  draw  the 
passengers  into  them,  out  of  those  of  the  second  class, 

F2 


66 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Second-class  cars.  Generally  preferred  by  travelers. 

into  which  a  considerable  majority  of  travelers  prefer 
to  go ;  the  price  being  much  less,  and  the  chief  differ- 
ence beinsr  in  the  softness  and  comfort  of  the  seats. 
The  difference  of  price,  in  going  from  Liverpool  to  Lon- 
don, is  about  two  dollars  and  a  half,  which  many  per- 
sons consider  too  much  to  pay  for  the  mere  fact  of  hav 
ing  a  cushion  to  sit  upon,  and  being  in  genteel  com- 
pany, for  half  a  day's  ride.  There  is,  therefore,  a  great 
tendency  to  take  the  second-class  cars.  To  counteract 
this  tendency,  the  rail-way  company  are  very  careful 
to  do  nothing  which  can  possibly  be  avoided  to  make 
them  comfortable.  The  seats  are  bare  benches.  There 
is  only  one  window  on  each  side,  and  that  a  single  pane 
of  glass  in  the  upper  part  of  the  door.  There  is  no  di- 
vision of  any  kind  between  the  separate  sittings,  and 
nothing  to  afford  any  support  to  the  passenger  but  the 
hard  and  perpendicular  partition  behind  him.  It  is  a 
curious  circumstance  that  all  these  and  the  other  dis- 
comforts of  the  second-class  cars  are  wholly  unneces- 
sary, and  are  only  kept  up  to  increase  the  distinction 
between  them  and  the  first-class  cars ;  for  the  ex- 
pense of  fitting  up  the  former  like  the  latter,  averaged 
upon  all  the  passengers  who  would  travel  in  them 
during  the  time  that  such  cars  will  last,  is  so  small  as 
to  be  almost  wholly  inappreciable.  A  large  majority 
of  the  whole  body  of  travelers  take  the  second-class 
cars.  The  proprietors  would  doubtless  like  to  make 
them  comfortable  ;  they  could  do  it,  just  as  well  as  not, 
were  it  not  for  this  necessity,  considered  in  England  so 
absolute  and  imperious,  of  making  and  sustaining  a  dis- 
tinction. The  whole  case  is  a  curious  instance  of  the 
conflict  between  the  leveling  tendencies  of  the  modern 
improvements  and  progress  in  social  life,  and  the  ideas 


THE  MANUFACTURING  DISTRICT. 


67 


Tunnel  under  the  city.  The  lamp.  Scenery  ol"  the  country. 

and  habits  of  ancient  days.  The  rail-way  insists  ab- 
solutel}^  on  taking  the  genteel  and  the  industrious  class- 
es in  the  same  train,  and  is  struggling  continually  to 
get  them  into  the  same  cars. 

Soon  after  getting  comfortably  installed  in  my  seat, 
with  a  snug  little  party  of  aristocratical  travelers  like 
myself,  the  train  began  to  roll  along ;  its  first  move- 
ment being  to  enter  a  long,  dark  tunnel,  leading,  for  a 
mile  or  two,  under  the  city  of  Liverpool.  We  at 
length  emerged  again,  and  the  evening-like  expression 
which  the  light  of  our  lamp  had  given  to  the  interior 
of  our  car  gave  place  again  to  the  white  light  of  day. 
Our  speed  increased,  and  we  commenced  our  flight 
over  a  region  of  country  which,  justly  considered,  is 
probably  one  of  the  most  wonderful  in  the  world. 
Here  is  a  district  of  some  fifty  miles  in  extent,  every 
way,  which  exhibits  nothing  but  one  vast  congeries  ot 
mills,  mines,  manufactories,  and  furnaces  of  every  form 
and  character,  dotting  every  where  a  scene  of  the  most 
luxuriant  rural  beauty  which  the  imagination  can  con- 
ceive. The  buildings  for  the  machinery,  the  houses 
for  the  workmen,  the  kilns,  the  tall  chimneys,  and  the 
thousand  bridges,  and  viaducts,  and  culverts,  are  all 
constructed  of  a  dark-gray  stone,  or  of  bricks  almost 
equally  gray.  The  grass,  the  hedges,  and  the  trees 
are  of  the  most  luxuriant  green ;  and  every  inch  of 
the  ground  seems  occupied  and  covered  either  with 
the  architecture  or  the  verdure.  No ;  there  are  the 
roads  and  the  streams  besides.  But  the  roads,  as  you 
look  down  upon  them  from  the  train,  seem  only  gravel 
walks,  as  smooth  and  clean  as  a  floor  ;  and  the  streams 
look  also  like  gravel-walks,  of  precisely  the  same  kind 
except  that  they  have  low  green  banks  instead  of  walls 


68 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Smoke  and  chimneys.  Succession  of  towns. 

at  the  sides,  and  a  few  inches  of  water  flowing  gently 
along  them. 

The  air  is  thick  and  murky  every  where  with  the 
smoke  of  thousands  of  fires,  which  rolls  in  dense  vol- 
umes up  from  the  summits  of  chimneys  of  immense 
magnitude  and  height,  and  then  drifts  away  in  dark 
masses,  driven  by  the  wind,  enveloping  the  whole  coun- 
try, at  last,  in  the  atmosphere  of  a  conflagration.  A 
lady,  who  was  my  fellow-passenger,  said  it  was  "  quite 
shocking — the  smoke  !"  It  ought  not,  however,  to  have 
been  considered  shocking  at  all.  It  formed  an  essen- 
tial and  characteristic  feature  of  the  scene.  It  helped 
very  much  to  impress  the  traveler  with  the  conviction 
that  he  was  really  in  the  midst  of  the  regions  celebra- 
ted all  over  the  world  as  the  oenter  and  focus  of  the 
mechanical  industry  and  power  of  the  human  race  ;  a 
spot  where  more  has  been  done  within  fifty  years  to 
promote  the  comfort  and  welfare  of  mankind  than  the 
greatest  military  hero  ever  did  to  interrupt  and  de- 
stroy it. 

The  manufactories  and  the  dwellings  of  the  opera- 
tives are  scattered  every  where,  and  seem  to  occupy 
the  whole  land.  They  spread  over  the  plains ;  they 
cling  to  the  hill-sides  ;  they  nestle  in  every  glen  and 
valley.  At  certain  points  they  gather  into  enormous 
masses,  and  take  a  common  name.  One  vast  conglom- 
eration of  these  structures,  over  whose  ancient-looking, 
slated  roofs  we  ran  for  half  a  mile,  they  told  U5  was 
Manchester.  Another  w^as  Rochdale  ;  another  Wake- 
field ;  and  there  w^ere  multitudes  of  others,  which  we 
passed  in  such  rapid  succession  that  we  did  not  care 
for  their  names.  These  clusters,  however,  named  or 
unnamed,  scarcely  seemed  to  possess  an  independent 


THE  MANUFACTURING  DISTRICT. 


69 


Scenery.  Arrival  at  York. 

individuality.  They  appear  rather  as  parts,  subordi- 
nate, though  important,  of  one  stupendous  whole  ;  the 
few  denser  foci  of  influences,  whose  power  is  one  and 
the  same  over  all  the  region.  There  were  a  thousand 
details  in  the  landscape,  too,  as  we  rolled  along,  which 
attracted  our  attention :  plantations  of  forest-trees  or 
of  flowers  along  the  sides  of  the  rail- way  track ;  gar- 
dens ;  now  and  then  a  picturesque  and  beautiful  coun- 
try residence,  with  its  green  lawn  before  it ;  little  rail- 
ways of  such  a  size  as  boys  would  make  for  play,  with 
long  rows  of  baskets  of  coals  upon  them,  on  trucks,  go- 
ing from  a  mine  to  a  canal ;  and  canal-boats,  painted 
black  and  vermilion,  creeping,  like  gay  bugs  of  enor- 
mous size,  slowly  upon  the  water.  Every  where 
hedges  without  number  were  to  be  seen,  bordering  the 
fields,  and  dividing  the  smooth  slopes  of  hills  clothed 
with  verdure  and  beauty  to  the  summit. 

We  found  ourselves  at  length  obviously  passing  be- 
yond the  confines  of  the  manufacturing  region.  The 
chimneys  disappeared.  The  air  became  clear.  Ru- 
ral villages  and  broad  fields  of  grain  filled  the  view ; 
and  at  two  o'clock,  having  left  Liverpool  at  nine,  we 
trundled  through  a  modern  archway  cut  sacrilegiously 
through  the  ancient  walls  of  the  venerable  old  city  of 
York.  A  "  fly"  took  me  through  a  series  of  antique- 
looking  and  very  quiet  streets,  and  set  me  down  at  the 
"  Old  George,  in  the  Pavements." 


70 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


York.  Gate-ways.  Walls. 


LETTER  IV. 

July  20. 

York  is  one  of  the  most  famous  ancient  cities  in  En- 
gland. It  presents  many  peculiarly  striking  aspects  to 
American  eyes.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  finished,  and 
has  been  so  for  a  century,  as  I  should  think.  There 
seems  to  be  not  a  building  going  up  or  undergoing  re- 
pairs in  any  part  of  it,  except  that  here  and  there  an 
architect  is  replacing  a  buttress  or  a  mullion  in  some 
antique  church,  by  putting  in  one  exactly  similar  to  the 
one  which  has  gone  to  decay.  Again,  a  large  portion 
of  the  old  walls  and  gate-ways  remain.  In  pursuing 
your  way  along  any  one  of  the  principal  streets  out  of 
the  city,  you  soon  come  to  an  ancient  and  ponderous 
gate-way,  with  a  broad,  arched  passage  for  carriages  in 
the  center,  and  narrower  ones  at  the  sides  for  pedestri- 
ans. Above  these  passages,  which  occupy  the  ground 
floor,  there  is  a  sort  of  second  story,  with  loopholes 
for  arrows  or  musketry  ;  though  sometimes  these  open- 
ings have  been  enlarged  into  rustic  windows,  to  fit  the 
premises  for  occupation  by  a  family.  This  second 
story  terminates  in  turrets,  or  battlements,  above.  On 
each  side  of  this  gate-way  is  an  ancient,  well-worn 
flight  of  stone  steps,  with  stone  balustrades,  by  means 
of  which  you  may  mount  to  the  top  of  the  wall.  This 
wall  does  not  now  entirely  surround  the  city ;  portions 
of  it  only  remain,  and  in  some  of  these  portions  the  top 
is  not  accessible,  being  in  a  state  of  too  great  dilapida- 
tion and  decay.  On  ascending  the  walls,  however,  at 
those  points  where  they  are  yet  entire,  you  find  that 
they  extend  along  on  the  summit  of  a  ridge  of  earth, 


MINSTER   AT  YORK. 


71 


The  parapet.  View  from  the  walls.  Quiet  in  the  city. 

like  a  rail-road  embankment,  with  a  grassy  slope  de- 
scending toward  the  city  on  one  side,  and  toward  the 
country  on  the  other.  Upon  this  embankment  the  wall 
is  built,  about  ten  feet  high,  and  it  is  perfectly  flat  upon 
the  top,  except  that  the  outer  edge  is  carried  up,  in  the 
form  of  a  parapet,  about  five  feet  higher  than  the  rest 
of  the  wall.  This  parapet  is  pierced  with  loopholes 
and  embrasures.  Within  the  parapet,  the  top  of  the 
main  body  of  the  wall  is  flat  and  smooth,  and  forms  a 
delightful  pnomenade.  You  see,  over  the  parapet,  the 
fields  and  hedges,  and  other  rural  features  of  the  coun- 
try. On  the  other  side,  toward  the  city,  you  look  down 
upon  rows  of  cottage-like  houses,  with  gardens  and 
fruit-trees  between  them  and  the  wall,  and  upon  quiet, 
neat  streets,  the  residence  of  an  humble  class  of  citizens, 
whose  wives  seem  to  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  keep 
the  courts  and  yards  neatly  swept,  the  floors  clean,  and 
the  geraniums  and  myrtles  in  their  windows  watered 
and  in  order. 

There  is  a  good  deal  of  moving  and  bustle  in  the  city 
at  mid-day,  but  it  is  a  very  quiet  kind  of  bustle.  Crowds 
of  peasant-like  looking  men,  quaintly  dressed  in  the 
fashion  of  the  last  century,  walk  to  and  fro.  Donkey- 
carts  pass  occasionally,  and  now  and  then  a  carriage. 
And  two  or  three  times  a  day  an  omnibus  from  the 
rail-road,  with  trunks  and  baggage  upon  the  top,  drives 
gently  and  carefully  up  to  the  door  of  the  inn. 

Throughout  the  city  every  thing  has  an  expression 
of  antiquity.  The  houses,  though  kept  in  most  excel- 
lent preservation,  have  forms  which  have  long  since 
passed  away  from  the  art  of  architecture.  You  are 
continually  coming  upon  some  gem  of  a  church,  small, 
irregular  in  form,  tottering,  venerable,  which  shows  by 


72 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Aspect  of  antiqmty.  The  Minster.  Ita  accessories. 

its  whole  aspect,  without  and  within,  that  it  was  orig- 
inally intended  as  a  very  humble  and  unpretending 
structure,  being  of  an  extreme  and  primitive  rudeness 
in  its  materials  and  w^orkmanship  ;  and  yet  time  has 
given  it  a  value  and  a  charm  which  are  indescribable, 
and  every  thing  in  and  about  it  is  now  preserved  with 
the  most  scrupulous  care. 

But  the  great  point  and  center  of  attraction  in  York 
is  the  Cathedral  church,  called  the  Minster,  This 
minster  stands  in  a  quarter  of  the  city  over  which  it 
seems  to  reign  like  a  queen,  and  the  whole  of  which  it 
seems  to  invest  with  its  own  character  of  elegant 
grandeur.  On  first  approaching  it,  the  effect  which  it 
produces  on  the  mind  is  impressive  in  the  extreme. 
The  enormous  mass  reposes  before  you,  with  its  count- 
less towers  and  turrets,  its  buttresses  and  battlements, 
in  the  midst  of  a  scenery  of  parks,  gardens,  chapels, 
ruins,  and  elegant  residences,  all  belonging  to,  and  in 
perfect  keeping  with  itself.  These  residences  are  oc- 
cupied by  the  dean  of  the  chapter,  the  canons,  and  other 
ecclesiastical  dignitaries  connected  w^ith  the  service  of 
the  Cathedral,  and  living  in  elegant  leisure  upon  its  in- 
comes. 

I  have  been  spending  several  days  in  town,  chiefly 
for  other  purposes,  but  in  part  for  the  sake  of  attending 
divine  service  in  the  Cathedral  on  the  Sabbath.  In 
going  over  the  empty  edifice,  with  a  verger  for  a  guide, 
in  the  middle  of  the  week,  we  see  only  the  shell,  as  it 
■were — a  skeleton,  lifeless  and  desolate.  But  in  joining 
the  congregation  who  come  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
divine  service  to  worship  within  its  walls,  w^e  seem  to 
see  the  vast  structure  animated  with  its  own  proper 
soul.    It  is  aw^ake  to  life.    It  is  fulfilling  its  function. 


MINSTER   AT  YORK. 


73 


Sunday  morning.       The  steps.       Interior.       Monumenta.        Iron  cage. 

I  accordingly  waited  till  the  hour  of  service  on  Sun- 
day morning,  before  visiting  the  interior  of  the  Cathe- 
dral. Before  the  ordinary  door  of  entrance,  v^^hich  is 
on  the  south,  I  found  a  great  square  of  steps,  made  thin 
and  sloping  on  every  side  by  the  wear  of  centuries. 
Several  persons  were  collected  before  the  door  and  un- 
der the  ancient  archway,  waiting  for  the  doors  to  be 
opened.  The  number  thus  waiting  gradually  increas- 
ed, until  at  length  the  gates  gave  way  and  the  crowd 
pressed  in.  We  found  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  a  for- 
est of  clustered  columns,  rising  out  of  the  smooth  stone 
pavement,  which  extended  far  and  wide  on  every  side. 
These  columns  were  terminated  above  at  a  vast  height 
by  groins  and  arches,  beyond  and  through  which  we 
could  see  long  ranges  of  windows  of  stained  glass. 
Here  and  there  were  monuments  of  great  variety  of 
form  and  structure,  some  against  the  walls,  some  in 
niches  and  recesses,  and  some  built  upon  the  floor,  with 
carved  and  sculptured  canopies  of  stone  over  them.  In 
one  place,  at  the  base  of  a  pillar,  there  was  a  great 
iron  cage,  within  which  lay,  upon  the  stone  floor,  a  form 
so  shapeless  and  discolored,  from  the  effects  of  age,  that 
it  was  impossible  to  tell  whether  it  was  originally  a 
rude  effigy  in  stone  or  a  mummy.  In  the  mean  time 
people  came  continually  in,  until  there  were  soon  sev- 
eral hundreds  walking  to  and  fro  over  the  great  ex- 
panse, across  the  transepts,  or  up  and  down  the  aisles, 
or  going  out  at  the  various  doors  which  conducted  them 
into  green  yards  of  very  varied  forms,  and  ornamented 
with  gravel-walks  and  parterres  of  flowers.  These 
doors  were  of  old  oak,  eaten  away  by  time,  and  with 
enormous  bolts,  bars,  and  hinges,  corroded  and  wasted 
to  mere  skeletons  by  rust.    The  hum  and  reverbera- 

G 


74 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  screen.  Architectural  ornaments.  Vergers. 

tion  of  all  these  footsteps  filled  the  whole  vast  structure 
with  a  murmuring  sound,  above  which  we  could  hear 
the  chiming  and  tolling  of  the  bells  in  the  lofty  towers, 
which  seemed  as  remote  and  subdued  in  tone  as  if  it 
came,  like  distant  thunder,  from  the  sky. 

It  was,  however,  only  a  portion  of  the  edifice  which 
was  yet  open  to  us.  Through  various  doors  and  grat- 
ed gates  we  had  vistas  of  other  portions  of  the  build- 
ing, from  which  we  w^ere  yet  excluded.  One  of  these 
closed  avenues  passed  through  the  middle  of  a  great 
screen,  twenty  feet  high,  consisting  of  a  vast  congeries 
of  niches,  mullions,  arches,  and  pinnacles,  most  elab- 
orately carved,  and  covered  with  sculptured  images  of 
apostles  and  saints,  and  every  other  architectural  or- 
nament. In  the  center  of  this  screen  was  the  arched 
door-way  above  referred  to,  which  was  closed  by  two 
ponderous  iron  gates.  Through  these  gates  we  could 
see  a  long  aisle,  with  rows  of  monuments  and  columns, 
and  the  carved  and  sculptured  work  of  other  screens  on 
each  side  of  it.  Two  officers,  in  a  peculiar  dress,  and 
with  long  and  slender  white  poles  in  their  hands,  stood 
on  each  side  to  guard  this  entrance,  as  if  to  be  ready 
in  case  of  the  contingency  of  any  of  the  Christian  wor- 
shipers attempting  to  force  the  iron  doors.  As  several 
ladies  and  gentlemen  came  up  to  this  place,  and  were 
standing  near,  as  if  waiting  for  admission,  an  attend- 
ant, in  a  long  black  gown,  ornamented  with  abundance 
of  tags  and  tassels,  came  to  them  and  said,  in  an  au- 
thoritative voice,  "  These  gates  will  not  be  open  till 
half  past  ten." 

It  was  a  verger.  There  were  seven  of  them,  in  a 
similar  dress,  among  the  crowd.  They  are  the  door- 
keepers of  the  building,  and  form  a  sort  of  ecclesiastic- 


MINSTER  AT  YORK. 


75 


The  choir.  Imposing  effect.  Archea  and  columns. 

al  police,  to  keep  the  passages  open,  and  to  regulate 
the  movements  of  the  crowd.  When  half  past  ten  ar- 
rived, the  gates  opened,  and  we  all  pressed  forward 
into  the  inclosure. 

We  advanced  along  the  passage,  between  lines  of 
pillars  and  monuments,  and  a  profusion  of  other  archi- 
tectural decorations,  and  at  length  turned  to  the  left, 
and  entered  an  inner  inclosure  of  an  oblong  form,  in- 
tended to  accommodate  the  congregation.  This  was  in 
what  was  called  the  choir  of  the  church.  The  space 
inclosed  in  this  case  seemed  about  equal  to  the  whole 
interior  of  one  of  the  larger  churches  in  our  country, 
and  contained,  as  I  judged,  seats  for  a  thousand  or  fif- 
teen hundred  persons.  The  whole  aspect  of  it  within 
is  imposing  in  the  extreme,  from  the  vast  extent  and 
variety  of  the  architectural  structures  and  ornaments 
which  it  exhibits  on  every  side.  It  is  inclosed  by  what 
is  called  a  screen,  which  extends  from  column  to  col- 
umn along  the  sides  and  ends  of  it.  This  screen  va- 
ries in  its  construction  and  character  in  different  parts. 
It  consists  of  carved  and  sculptured  work  of  immense 
variety  and  labor  in  the  details  ;  forming  stalls  below, 
that  is,  separate  seats  in  niches,  as  it  were,  each  of 
which  is  surmounted  by  a  sort  of  canopy  of  arched 
work.  Above  these  are  carved  heads,  and  statues,  and 
ornamented  open  work;  and  higher  still,  perhaps  twen- 
ty feet  from  the  pavement,  the  screen  terminates  in. 
ranges  of  turrets  and  pinnacles,  light  and  airy,  and  half 
transparent,  through  the  openness  of  the  work.  Above 
the  screen,  in  every  direction,  the  view  is  lost  among 
countless  arches  and  columns,  and  in  long  vistas  ex- 
tending here  and  there  among  antique  windows  of 
stained  glass,  and  carved  images,  and  monumental  in- 


76 


SUMMER  IJV  SCOTLAND. 


The  pulpit.  Reading  desks.  The  altar. 

scriptions,  and  pendants  hanging  from  the  ceiling  at  a 
vast  height  above. 

A  New  England  Congregationalist  would  look,  at 
first,  in  vain,  among  all  the  objects  in  view  within  the 
inclosure,  for  the  pulpit.  On  a  second  examination  he 
w^ould  findj^ue  structures,  either  of  which  he  might  im- 
agine intended  for  such  a  purpose.  These  structures 
are  placed  all  around  the  apartment,  and  are  of  every 
form  and  variety.  One  is  a  sort  of  tablet,  supported 
upon  the  back  of  a  great  gilded  bird,  the  bird  itself 
standing  upon  a  globe  likewise  gilded.  It  is  placed  in 
a  position  neither  in  the  center  nor  aside.  Behind  it 
is  a  regular  desk,  raised  above  the  surrounding  pews, 
and  handsomely  cushioned.  There  is  another  desk  still 
more  conspicuous.  It  stands,  in  fact,  directly  in  the 
center  of  a  broad  passage  way,  which  occupies  the 
middle  of  the  floor  of  one  half  the  inclosure  ;  the  bench- 
es and  pews  in  this  part  extending  lengthwise,  parallel 
to  the  central  passage  way,  and  rising  on  each  side  to- 
ward the  walls.  In  the  other  half  of  the  apartment 
the  seats  are  placed  crosswise,  and  occupy  almost  the 
whole  breadth  of  the  space  inclosed.  Then  there  are 
two  other  structures,  more  nearly  of  the  usual  form  ot 
pulpits,  one  on  each  side  of  the  apartment,  against  the 
screen,  and  midway  between  the  two  ends.  These 
last  are  very  richly  carved  and  gilded,  and  ornament- 
ed with  armorial  bearings  and  other  insignia.  They 
are  surrounded  by  a  sort  of  canopy  of  open  work,  pro- 
fusely decorated  with  sculptured  ornaments  of  every 
kind.  Then,  lastly,  there  is  the  altar,  as  far  as  possi- 
ble from  all  these  other  pulpits  and  desks,  being  placed 
at  the  extreme  end  of  the  inclosure  on  the  other  side. 
It  is  separated  from  the  space  near  it  that  is  occupied 


MINSTER  AT  YORK. 


77 


Communion  service  of  gold.  The  congregation. 

by  seats,  by  a  massive  rail,  with  a  cushioned  step  for 
communicants  to  kneel  upon  in  front  of  it.  The  altar 
itself,  within  the  rail,  is  furnished  with  a  superb  com- 
munion service  of  gold. 

If  now  the  reader  should  say  that  all  this  description 
has  given  him  no  very  distinct  idea,  but  has  only  left 
upon  his  mind  a  confused  conception  of  stalls,  pulpits, 
pews,  columns,  pinnacles,  and  sculptured  images,  I  an- 
swer that  that,  in  fact,  is  pretty  much  all  the  impression 
which  is  left  on  the  mind  by  actually  visiting  the  scene. 
Whatever  conception,  however,  the  reader  may  have 
been  able  to  form  of  this  interior,  he  must  imagine  the 
whole  inclosed  by  high  partitions  of  the  most  elaborate 
and  varied  sculpture,  and  lying  in  the  midst  of  a  forest 
of  pillars,  rising  to  a  vast  elevation,  and  surmounted 
by  a  sort  of  sky  of  lofty  arches  and  sculptured  groins. 

Although  a  congregation  of  many  hundreds  of  per- 
sons had  entered  the  choir,  and  occupied  the  central 
benches  and  seats,  all  the  more  ornamented  and  con- 
spicuous pews,  and  the  stalls,  were  still  empty,  many 
of  them  being  guarded  by  officers  with  long  rods,  or 
silver  maces,  or  other  emblems  of  authority.  About 
this  time,  however,  a  company  of  singing  men  and 
boys  came  in,  dressed  in  white  robes,  and  took  seats  in  a 
central  position,  half  upon  one  side  of  the  area  and  half 
upon  the  other.  They  came  in  together,  but  unattend- 
ed. In  fact,  none  who  had  entered  thus  far  were  no- 
ticed at  all,  excepting  one  lady.  She  came  in  by  a  door 
in  one  of  the  sides  of  the  inclosure,  with  a  little  lad  by 
her  side.  She  had  a  very  pleasing  countenance,  and 
was  simply,  but  beautifully,  dressed.  She  stood  a  mo- 
ment in  a  waiting  posture  in  the  open  area,  when  a 
verger  approached,  and  very  respectfully  conducted 
G2 


78 


BUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  lady  mayoress.  Insignia  of  office. 

her  to  a  seat  nearly  opposite  to  where  I  was  sitting,  in 
a  conspicuous  and  decorated  pew.  She  was*  the  lady 
mayoress.  It  appeared  that  it  was  not  proper  for  her 
to  go  to  her  seat  without  being  conducted  to  it  by  a 
verger. 

I  had  been  seated  on  my  bench  but  a  few  moments, 
having  had  barely  time  to  make  the  foregoing  observ- 
ations, when  a  bell  of  far  louder  and  deeper  tones 
than  those  which  had  been  sounding,  and  on  a  differ- 
ent tower  from  them,  though  apparently  at  an  equally 
lofty  height,  began  to  toll  slowly  and  solemnly.  A  mo- 
ment afterward  there  was  a  movement  near  one  of  the 
great  entrance  doors,  and  presently  a  procession  ap- 
peared, headed  by  an  officer  in  uniform.  This  proces- 
sion consisted  of  the  magistrates  of  the  city,  the  mayor, 
recorder,  the  sheriff,  and  the  aldermen.  They  were 
all  dressed  in  a  peculiar  costume,  interesting  and  im- 
posing in  its  effect  upon  any  one  who  considers  it  as 
a  dress  w^hich  has  come  down,  from  age  to  age,  to  the 
present  time,  and  which  centuries  to  come  will  not, 
probably,  change.  These  dignitaries  were  accompa- 
nied by  officers  bearing  the  mace  and  the  sword  of  state. 
The  mace  was  a  massive  rod  surmounted  by  a  crown, 
and  richly  carved  and  gilded.  When  the  magistrates 
themselves  were  seated  in  their  proper  stalls,  which 
w^ere  upon  one  side  of  the  choir,  and  which  were  fur- 
nished with  large  quarto  prayer-books,  in  gilded  bind- 
ing, placed  conspicuously  upon  cushions  resting  upon 
a  sloping  support  which  passed  along  in  front  of  the 
seats,  the  mace-bearers  took  their  places  in  front  of 
them,  and  deposited  the  emblems  of  their  authority 
carefully  in  sockets  arranged  to  receive  them,  in  such 
a  manner  that  the  sword  and  mace  together  formed  a 


MINSTER  AT  YORK. 


70 


Dignitaries.  The  clergymen. 

cross.  They  remained  in  this  position  during  the 
service. 

The  Court  of  Assizes  being  at  this  time  in  session, 
there  was  another  procession  of  dignitaries  to  enter 
the  church,  consisting  of  the  chief  baron,  and  the  oth- 
er legal  authorities,  who  were  next  escorted  in  with 
similar  ceremony,  and  conducted  to  seats  in  similar 
stalls  on  the  other  side  of  the  choir.  The  judge  was 
dressed  as  we  see  represented  in  the  pictures,  with  a 
full  gray  wig  extending  down  in  front  over  his  shoul- 
ders, and  with  flowing  robes  over  the  rest  of  his  per- 
son, as  singular  as  the  costume  of  his  head.  In  front 
of  these  persons  sat  a  row  of  functionaries  with  clothes 
of  a  chocolate  color  and  of  a  quaint  fashion,  and  trim- 
med with  large  cords  and  tassels  of  crimson  and  gold, 
each  one  provided  with  a  gold-headed  cane.  Their 
hair  and  whiskers  were  all  powdered,  giving  them  the 
appearance  of  middle-aged  men  grown  prematurely 
gray. 

At  length  all  these  personages  and  their  attendants 
were  seated.  A  company  of  clergymen,  five  or  six  in 
number,  members  of  the  Cathedral,  came  in  and  occu- 
pied their  appropriate  seats,  and  the  service  began. 
Its  various  parts  were  read  from  various  positions :  the 
litany  from  one  place,  the  communion  service  from 
another,  and  the  prayers  and  portions  of  Scripture  from 
a  third  and  fourth ;  so  that,  though  no  one  portion  of 
the  congregation  could  possibly  hear  all,  each  part 
seemed  to  have  its  turn,  and  every  one,  wherever  he 
sat,  found  tfie  officiating  clergyman,  for  the  time  being, 
sometimes  on  his  right  hand,  sometimes  on  his  left,  and 
sometimes  behind  him.  The  clergymen  in  changing 
their  places — as  in  one  instance  they  did  from  one  ex- 


80 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  dean's  sermon.  Justification  by  faith, 

tremity  of  the  apartment  to  the  other — were  escorted 
by  officers,  to  open  a  passage  for  them  through  the 
crowd  ;  and  they  moved  in  a  procession,  thus  attend- 
ed, with  great  ceremony. 

The  sermon  was  by  the  dean,  a  venerable  man  more 
than  eighty  years  of  age,  who  presides  over  the  Ca- 
thedral, and  over  the  company  of  ecclesiastics  who 
are  attached  to  it.  His  train  of  thought  was  substan- 
tially this : 

He  said  that  it  was  much  to  be  regretted  that  there 
was  such  a  diversity  of  opinion  on  spiritual  subjects 
among  mankind,  but  that  this  diversity  probably  had 
its  foundation  in  causes  which  could  never  be  entirely 
removed ;  that,  among  these  differences,  one  of  the 
most  important  related  to  the  manner  in  which  we 
were  to  regard  the  forms  and  outward  duties  of  Chris- 
tianity, in  contradistinction  from  a  mere  inward  faith. 
He  said  that  Calvin,  in  his  zeal  to  destroy  the  abuses 
which  had  crept  into  the  Romish  Church,  advanced 
views  of  justification  hy  faith  alone,  in  which  those 
whom  he  represented  could  not  concur ;  that  these 
views  were  founded  upon  a  few  detached  portions  of 
the  writings  of  Paul,  without  properly  considering  the 
circumstances  under  which  these  writings  were  pro- 
duced. Paul,  in  fact,  was  addressing  a  company  of 
Christians,  who,  having  been  educated  as  Jews,  were 
prone  to  attach  too  much  importance  to  the  burden- 
some ceremonies  of  that  ritual,  and  now  for  us  to  ap- 
ply his  remarks  to  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the 
Christian  Church  itself  was  perverting  them  entirely 
from  their  real  design. 

He  condemned  very  decidedly  the  use,  at  the  pres- 


MINSTER  AT  YORK. 


81 


Abuse  of  terms.  The  communion. 

ent  day,  of  such  terms  as  the  elects  chosen  of  God,  justi- 
fied by  his  grace,  as  more  applicable  to  some  persons 
than  others  in  the  Christian  community,  and  as  imply- 
ing a  difference  in  their  spiritual  condition,  and  in  their 
position  in  the  sight  of  God.  Paul  applied  these  terms 
to  Christians  in  contradistinction  from  pagans ;  and 
for  us  to  use  them  in  reference  to  some  Christians  as 
distinguished  from  others,  is  grossly  wrong.  In  fact, 
those  expressions  have  no  applicability  at  all,  at  the 
present  day,  in  such  a  community  as  ours.  All  are 
brought  up,  from  infancy,  as  Christians,  now,  and  there- 
fore there  are  none  chosen  or  elect  from  the  rest.  This 
sentiment,  he  was  aware,  might  not  be  very  favorably 
received  by  all  who  heard  him,  especially  by  those 
whose  spiritual  pride  led  them  to  arrogate  these  ex- 
pressions to  themselves,  to  the  exclusion  of  others 
whom  they  consider  less  the  favorites  of  Heaven. 

The  venerable  prelate  expressed  these  sentiments 
with  great  force  and  precision,  and  pronounced  his  dis- 
course with  remarkable  eloquence  and  energy,  consid- 
ering his  advanced  age.  The  audience  listened  with 
the  closest  attention. 

After  the  benediction,  the  general  mass  of  the  con- 
gregation moved  out  of  the  choir,  and  then  the  public 
functionaries  followed,  each  escorted  by  the  proper 
officers,  as  they  had  come  in.  I  lingered  a  little  behind 
the  rest,  and  observed  that  a  few  persons  were  going 
toward  that  part  of  the  choir  where  the  altar  was  sit- 
uated, while  the  others  were  retiring ;  I  walked  that 
way  too.  One  or  two  clergymen  were  within  the  rail, 
and  a  small  party  were  outside  of  it,  as  if  preparing  to 
partake  of  the  communion.    I  took  a  seat  at  a  respect- 


82 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Invitation  to  the  communion.  Number  of  communicants. 

ful  distance  to  witness  the  ceremony.  A  verger  soon 
approached  me  with  the  question, 

"  Do  you  wish  to  partake  of  the  holy  sacrament  V* 

"  No,  I  do  not,"  I  replied. 

"  Then  you  can't  sit  here." 

I  rose  to  retire,  saying  I  was  a  stranger  in  the  coun- 
try, and  had  only  wished  to  witness  the  ceremony. 

"  You  can  go  and  receive  the  sacrament,"  he  replied, 
if  you  wish  ;  otherwise  you  can  not  remain." 

I  bowed  and  retired,  thus  losing,  perhaps,  the  only 
opportunity  I  shall  ever  enjoy  of  obeying  Christ's 
command  to  "  Do  this"  from  a  service  of  gold.  As  I 
w^ent  out,  reflecting  on  what  would  be  considered  in 
our  country  the  extreme  liberality  of  admitting  thus 
a  stranger  and  a  foreigner,  without  any  question  or  in- 
quiry whatever,  and  at  the  discretion  of  a  verger,  to 
the  table  of  the  Lord,  I  turned  to  see  how  far  this  wide 
opening  of  the  doors  might  operate  as  an  inducement 
to  mankind  to  come  in.  The  number  of  communicants 
was  three. 

On  going  out  of  the  church,  I  found  that  a  very  large 
portion  of  the  congregation  were  standing  on  the  steps, 
and  platforms,  and  pavements,  to  see  the  lady  mayor- 
ess enter  her  chariot,  which  was  very  gay,  and  was 
attended  by  three  servants  in  splendid  liveries.  After 
this  and  the  other  carriages  had  driven  away,  the 
crowd,  saying  to  one  another,  "  Well,  we  have  seen 
all  that  is  to  be  seen,"  quietly  dispersed. 

As  to  the  service  of  the  Church  of  England,  perform- 
ed with  all  its  rites  and  ceremonies  in  full,  here  in  its 
own  home,  and  in  hands  to  which  it  has  regularly  de- 
scended from  former  ages,  he  must  be  of  a  very  cool 


MINSTER  AT  YORK.  83 


The  service.  Rites  and  forms. 


and  mathematical  temper,  indeed,  who  does  not  feel, 
when  he  first  witnesses  it,  a  strong  degree  of  pleasura- 
ble excitement.  To  form  such  a  system  of  rites  and 
ceremonies  now,  anew,  for  the  present  generation, 
might  be  absurd,  but  it  does  not  follow  that  it  is  ab- 
surd to  continue  them  in  being,  as  already  formed,  and 
to  pass  them  down,  unchanged,  to  succeeding  genera- 
tions, as  they  have  come  down  to  us  from  those  that 
are  past.  In  fact,  at  the  time  when  all  these  usages 
grew  into  being,  they  were,  most  of  them,  extremely 
well  adapted  to  answer  their  ends.  The  great  mass 
of  the  community  were  then  incapable  of  religious 
thought.  They  were  merely  susceptible  of  religious 
impression  ;  and  this  impression,  the  solemnity  and  sa- 
credness  with  which  all  the  forms  of  worship  were  in- 
vested, and  the  somber  and  imposing  architecture  of 
the  temples  in  which  it  was  offered,  were  well  fitted  to 
inspire.  And,  although  correct  ideas  of  the  character 
of  God,  and  rational  views  of  the  way  to  secure  his  fa- 
vor, are  better  than  a  mere  vague  feeling  of  awe  in  his 
presence,  still  the  latter  is  a  great  good  in  the  absence 
of  the  former.  The  responses,  too,  by  which  all  the 
worshipers  are  enabled  to  take  an  active  part,  and  to 
render  an  audible  aid  in  the  supplications  and  ascrip- 
tions of  the  worship,  were  well  adapted  to  assist  the 
wandering  mind  to  fix  itself  on  the  duty  before  it,  in  the 
rude  and  uncultivated  state  of  society  in  which  the 
method  was  devised.  I  do  not  mean  that  the  usage  is 
not  well  adapted  to  this  purpose  now,  but  only  that  it 
was  eminently  adapted  to  it  then.  Then  the  costumes 
by  which  the  public  functionaries  were  clothed,  and  in 
which  they  still  continue  to  be  clothed  in  this  country, 
though  the  usage  has  been  abandoned  in  ours  ;  how 


84 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Ancient  costumes.  Their  utility  as  badges  of  authority. 

vast  an  influence  the  custom  must  have  exerted  in  past 
ages,  in  inspiring  men  with  respect  for  the  officers,  and 
a  wilHngness  to  submit  to  the  law.  It  is  of  no  use  to 
say  that  men  of  sense  attach  no  value  to  such  things, 
for  the  mass  of  the  population  in  such  a  country  as  En- 
gland are  not  men  of  sense ;  at  least  they  certainly  were 
not  when  these  costumes  were  assumed.  Besides,  in 
respect  to  mere  ministerial  offices,  it  is  doubtful  wheth- 
er even  men  of  sense  are  not  somewhat  influenced  by 
a  garb.  I  think  that  even  the  sternest  republican,  who 
theoretically  condemns  all  these  things,  would  follow 
the  directions  of  even  a  verger  in  this  Cathedral  a  lit- 
tle more  readily  on  account  of  his  robe,  coarse  as  it  is. 
It  is  not  merely,  however,  that  the  costume  is  different 
from  that  of  other  men,  but  that  it  is  one  which  a  long 
lapse  of  time  has  consecrated  to  be  the  badge  and  to- 
ken of  a  peculiar  species  of  authority.  The  man  who 
wears  it  seems  visibly  invested  with  the  authority  which 
it  represents.  Hence  all  newly  invented  costumes  and 
badges  are  generally  failures.  Time  is  required  to  give 
them  the  associations  on  which  their  power  depends. 
Until  this  is  done,  they  mean  nothing.  Thus,  a  crown 
contrived  now  for  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
or  any  other  similar  badge  of  authority,  would  be  sim- 
ply a  matter  of  ridicule  ;  whereas  the  crown  on  the 
head  of  the  British  sovereign  affords  a  real  and  pow- 
erful support  to  her  authority.  The  reason  is,  that  in 
this  latter  case  the  crown  has  been  for  ages  a  meaning 
symbol,  until  it  has  become,  as  it  were,  the  visible  em- 
bodiment, in  the  eyes  of  all  men,  of  the  vast  preroga- 
tives and  powers  of  which  it  has  so  long  been  the  badge 
and  the  emblem.  We  must  not,  therefore,  hastily  in- 
fer that  because  it  would  be  unwise  to  originate  and 


MINSTER  AT  YORK. 


85 


Danger  to  be  avoided.  The  Minster  itself. 

introduce  complicated  forms  of  worship,  and  badges 
and  decorations  in  dress,  in  America,  it  is,  therefore, 
unwise  to  continue  them  in  England. 

As  to  the  sermon  of  the  dean,  perhaps  we  ought  to 
expect  in  this,  one  of  the  great  centers  and  fortresses 
of  the  English  Establishment,  a  little  exaggeration  of 
the  value  of  forms,  and  not  judge  it  too  harshly.  But 
it  seems  to  me  that  the  permanence  of  the  English  Lit- 
urgy as  a  form  of  worship,  whether  in  England  or 
America,  is  most  likely  to  be  promoted  by  making  it 
the  instrument  and  the  hand-maid  of  the  spirit  of  piety, 
and  not,  as  the  venerable  preacher  seemed  to  me  to 
make  it  on  this  occasion,  the  alternative  and  substi- 
tute for  it.  All  those  foundations  for  religious  observ- 
ances are  fast  failing  from  among  mankind  at  the  pres- 
ent age,  except  those  which  rest  in  the  spiritual  wants 
of  the  human  soul ;  and  the  friends  of  such  a  service 
as  that  of  the  Church  of  England,  while  they  revere 
antiquity,  and  cling  to  its  sacred  associations,  and 
see  and  prize  its  adaptedness  to  its  ends,  ought  to  watch 
against  the  dangers  to  which  it  may  lead.  We  should 
remember  that  Jesus  Christ,  while  on  earth,  demolished 
a  divinely-appointed  and  splendid  ritual,  because  its  ad- 
herents had  exalted  the  outward  observances  which  it 
enjoined  to  a  precedence  over  inward  and  spiritual  faith ; 
and  that  a  similar  corruption  would  call  for  similar  de- 
struction in  any  other. 

No  description  can  convey  an  idea  of  the  imposing 
appearance  of  the  vast  pile  of  buildings  as  you  turn  to 
take  a  farewell  look  of  it  before  going  home  to  the  inn  ; 
nor  can  any  engraved  representation  of  it  do  this. 
There  are  a  great  many  such  engravings,  some  on  a 
very  large  and  expensive  scale,  but  they  all  appear 

H 


86 


SUMMER   IN  SCOTLAND. 


Parting  view  of  the  cathedral.  -  Farewell. 

like  mere  mechanical  drawings,  suitable  for  an  archi- 
tect to  study,  but  failing  entirely  to  convey  any  idea  of 
the  moral  and  picturesque  effect  produced  by  the  edi- 
fice itself,  as  it  stands  in  its  place,  mellowed  and  soften- 
ed by  time,  gray  with  age,  enormous  in  magnitude,  and 
surrounded  by  scenery  of  the  most  striking  character, 
which  seems  to  belong  to  itself,  forming  with  it  one 
unique  and  indescribable  whole.  As  I  rolled  away  a 
day  or  two  afterward,  along  the  rail-way  track,  on  my 
way  to  Edinburgh,  I  looked  back  toward  the  city,  and 
saw  the  enormous  mass  of  towers  and  pinnacles  rising 
bodily  above  all  the  roofs  of  the  city,  which  seemed 
like  a  floor  on  which  it  was  reposing.  A  few  miles 
further  on  the  roofs  had  disappeared,  and  the  tops  ot 
intervening  plantations  of  trees  formed  the  horizon ; 
but  the  Minster  was  there  still,  rising  above  all,  only 
now  apparently  reposing  upon  a  floor  of  foliage  and 
verdure.  Farewell,  magnificent  pile  !  There  it  has 
stood  for  centuries,  and  there  it  will  stand,  unchanged, 
for  centuries  to  come.  Generation  after  generation  will 
pass  away,  but  within  its  walls  every  thing  will  con- 
tinue the  same.  The  same  officers  will  come  in  the 
same  costumes ;  the  same  vergers  will  attend ;  the  same 
rites  and  ceremonies  be  performed  ;  and  a  long  succes- 
sion of  republican  visitors  will  come  from  across  the 
Atlantic  to  gaze,  like  me,  upon  the  spectacle,  and  to  go 
away,  lost  and  perplexed,  among  the  contending  feel- 
ings which  it  is  fitted  to  inspire. 


COLLIERIES. 


Biver  Tyne.  The  new  castle.  Coal  minea. 


LETTER  V. 

THE  COLLIERIES. 

Newcastle,  July  21. 

The  River  Tyne,  in  the  north  of  England,  flows  east- 
ward to  the  sea  through  a  narrow  valley,  and  the  new 
casile,  which  some  king  of  England  caused  to  be  built 
upon  its  banks  some  centuries  ago,  was  placed,  as  cas- 
tles usually  are,  where  the  descent  was  most  precipi- 
tous and  the  valley  the  narrowest.  The  new  castle  is 
■aow  an  ancient  ruin ;  and  the  square  tow^er,  which  is 
all  that  remains  of  it,  is  threatened  with  speedy  destruc- 
tion ;  for  the  great  northern  rail- way,  in  crossing  the 
river  on  its  way  to  Edinburgh,  chooses  the  same  point 
that  the  castle  selected,  and  probably  for  the  same  rea- 
son, namely,  that  here  the  valley  is  narrowest  and  the 
banks  high.  A  viaduct  of  prodigious  elevation  is  in 
process  of  building,  which  strikes  through  the  ruins  of 
a  portion  of  the  ancient  fortress ;  and  if  it  spares  the 
old  square  tower,  which,  fortunately,  stands  just  one 
side  of  the  track,  the  forbearance  will  probably  only 
prove  a  matter  of  form,  for  the  thundering  of  the  trains 
under  the  crazy  walls  will  probably  frighten  away  the 
old  woman  who  now  inhabits  them,  and  soon  after 
shake  them  down. 

The  town  which  sprung  up  around  the  new  castle 
has  become  one  of  great  importance  on  many  accounts. 
One  of  the  sources  of  its  prosperity  has  been  the  im- 
mense quantities  of  coal  which  lie  in  very  extensive 
strata,  under  ground,  throughout  the  whole  region. 
They  reach  the  coal  by  means  of  deep  wells  or  shafts, 
called  pits,  and  the  whole  country,  for  many  miles 


88 


SUMMER   IN  SCOTLAND. 


Visit  to  the  collieries.  Precipitous  sreets. 

around,  is  full  of  them.  I  wished  to  visit  some  of  these 
collieries,  and  stopped  a  day  or  tw^o  in  Nevi^castle  for 
this  purpose.  I  made  several  visits  to  them,  w^ander- 
ing  off  generally  alone,  w^ithout  any  guide,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  having  a  better  opportunity  to  make  acquaint- 
ance with  the  people  connected  with  the  works.  I 
proceed  to  give  an  account  of  one  of  these  excursions, 
and  shall  notice  a  great  number  of  little  incidents  and 
occurrences,  of  no  importance  in  themselves,  and  even 
trivial  in  every  other  respect  than  on  account  of  their 
aiding  those  who  have  never  been  in  England  to  form 
a  more  vivid  conception  of  daily  life  as  it  presents  it- 
self there. 

I  left  my  inn,  and  took  the  street  leading  to  the  riv- 
er, as  my  route  lay  across  it.  The  declivities  on  each 
side  of  the  river  are  so  steep  that  a  carriage-road  can 
not  ascend  directly.  The  great  streets,  therefore,  as- 
cend in  winding  and  zigzag  courses  ;  but  there  are  nar- 
rower pass- ways,  practicable  for  the  donkey -carts, 
which  are  more  direct ;  and  there  are  others,  steeper 
and  narrower  still,  running  down  steps  and  under  arch- 
ed passages,  for  pedestrians  alone.  I  chose  the  latter, 
and,  in  descending  them,  I  paused  several  times  in  as- 
tonishment at  the  extraordinary  aspect  of  the  passage 
before  me,  and  of  the  buildings  overhanging  it.  Such 
dismal  dens  ;  such  frightfully  precipitous  descents ; 
steps  worn  shelving  by  countless  footsteps ;  and  build- 
ings of  the  most  ancient  structure,  originally  massive 
and  solid,  but  now  tottering  and  blackened  by  time  and 
decay.  These  passages  turned  and  branched  in  every 
direction,  and  were  connected  with  each  other  in  a  per- 
fect net-work,  so  that  it  would  have  been  impossible, 
once  involved  among  them,  to  have  found  my  way,  if 


COLLIERIES. 


89 


Scenery.  Region  of  fire  and  smoke. 

I  had  not  known  that,  by  constantly  descending,  I  must 
at  last  reach  the  river.  The  buildings  on  each  side 
rose  to  a  vast  height ;  sometimes  each  story  jutted 
more  and  more  over  the  narrow  passage,  and  at  length, 
like  an  arch,  closed  over  it  entirely.  In  the  midst  of 
these  places,  there  would  sometimes  suddenly  appear 
an  ancient  church,  or  an  old  tower,  or  the  remains  of 
a  ruined  gate-way,  or  some  other  relic  of  antiquity;  all, 
perhaps,  turned  into  shops  for  selling  boots  and  shoes, 
or  residences  for  swarming  families.  Every  where, 
in  fact,  there  were  crowds  of  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren. Every  door  and  window,  and  branching  pas- 
sage, was  completely  full  of  life  and  motion. 

At  last  I  reached  the  river,  and  crossed  it  by  an  old 
and  blackened  stone  bridge.  I  wandered  on  beyond, 
going  toward  a  quarter  where-  many  columns  and 
clouds  of  smoke  were  rising. 

The  coal  of  this  region  is  all  of  the  sort  called  hitu- 
minous,  that  is,  it  contains,  although  perfectly  dry  to 
the  touch,  a  bituminous  or  pitchy  substance,  which 
throws  out  volumes  of  dense  black  smoke  in  burning. 
So  numerous  are  these  smoky  fires  in  the  vicinity  of 
Newcastle,  that  the  whole  country  seems  in  a  state  of 
conflagration.  I  looked  around  me  to  see  where  the 
black  columns  and  driving  masses  of  smoke  were  most 
dense  and  continuous,  and,  pursuing  my  way  in  that  di- 
rection, I  passed  along  lanes  and  little  road-ways  into 
a  region  which  seemed  the  very  home  and  dominion 
of  smoke  and  fire.  The  old  walls  were  blackened. 
The  roads  and  paths  were  dark  as  if  macadamized 
with  coal.  There  was  a  small  pond  whose  surface 
was  smoking.  It  was  supplied  by  a  little  rivulet  of 
scalding  water,  which  came  meandering  a  long  dis- 
H  2 


90 


SUMMER   IN  SCOTLAND. 


Smoke  and  ashes.  The  steam  pump. 

tance  through  the  smutty  grass,  smoking  as  it  came. 
Heaps  of  waste  coal  and  ashes,  burning  with  perpetual 
fires,  lay  at  the  doors  of  the  furnaces,  new  additions 
being  made  at  the  top,  while  the  heap  consumed  itself 
on  the  sides  and  below.  The  grass  was  black;  the 
weeds  looked  suffocated  ;  the  air  was  murky,  and  thick 
with  smoke  and  ashes  driven  by  the  wind  ;  and  I  could 
hear  on  every  side  the  hum  of  wheels,  and  the  blows  of 
hammers,  light  and  heavy,  and  all  the  other  sounds 
which  go  to  make  up  the  din  of  heavy  engines  at  work. 

At  length  I  approached  a  structure  which  appeared 
as  if  it  might  contain  an  engine  for  pumping  water, 
thus  indicating  a  coal-pit ;  for,  as  the  water  accumu- 
lates very  rapidly  at  these  great  depths,  the  work  of 
keeping  the  mines  clear  of  it  is  one  of  the  chief  things 
to  be  provided  for.  The  building  was  small,  ancient, 
and  dilapidated.  It  had  a  tall  chimney,  and  by  the  side 
of  the  chimney  parts  of  the  ponderous  machinery  were 
visible  above  the  open  top  of  the  edifice.  There  was 
a  great  beam,  balanced  by  a  very  heavy  box  of  iron 
weights  at  one  end,  and  carrying  at  the  other  end 
what  I  supposed  to  be  the  piston  of  the  pump.  It  os- 
cillated slowly,  and  with  a  heavy  thump  at  each  stroke, 
and  seemed  weak  and  tottering  with  age. 

There  was  an  old  man  seated  on  a  little  bench  at 
the  door  of  this  edifice,  and  I  went  up  and  accosted  him 
with  the  question  whether  this  was  a  coal-pit. 

"  Na,  sir,  there'll  be  na  pit  here,  sir ;  its  joost  an  in- 
gine  in  the  ould  shaft." 

"  Then  this  is  where  you  pump  out  the  mine  ?" 

"Ay,  sir;  or  thelse  all  the  pits  aroond  aboot  would 
be  droonded  with  the  wather." 

I  do  very  imperfect  justice  to  the  old  gentleman's 


COLLIERIES.  91 

Dialogue  with  an  old  man.  Mound  of  ashes. 

dialect  by  my  orthography  above.  His  pronunciation 
of  the  words,  and,  more  than  all,  a  peculiar  accent  and 
inflexion,  made  it  extremely  difficult  for  me  to  under- 
stand any  thing  he  said.  What  I  have  given  above  is 
only  the  substance  of  the  very  little  vs^hich  I  could  un- 
derstand of  a  long  reply  he  gave  to  each  of  my  ques- 
tions. I  thanked  him  and  put  a  sixpence  in  his  hand, 
and  this  at  once  had  the  effect  to  make  him  still  more 
communicative  and  obliging  than  before.  He  went 
with  me  around  the  works,  and  explained  the  opera- 
tion and  design  of  the  machinery,  and  gave  me  much 
other  information,  most  of  which  was  completely  unin- 
telligible. I  did,  however,  gather  that  the  engine  did 
not  raise  the  water  to  the  surface  of  the  ground,  but 
only  up  to  a  long  subterranean  channel,  by  which  it 
was  conveyed  to  the  river;  that  it  was  impossible  to 
descend  to  the  mine  at  this  place,  but  that  at  certain 
other  pits,  whose  position  he  pointed  out  to  me  by  means 
of  the  tall  chimneys  erected  at  the  mouths  of  them,  and 
which  were  visible  where  we  stood,  through  the  driv- 
ing masses  of  smoke  which  filled  the  air,  I  should  be 
able  to  descend. 

I  bade  him  good-morning,  and  walked  along.  The 
next  thing  which  attracted  my  attention  was  an  enor- 
mous mound  of  cinders,  ashes,  and  waste  coal,  smoking 
and  burning  in  various  places.  The  slopes  near  the 
bottom  of  this  mound  were  clothed  with  dusty  grass 
and  herbage,  as  if  its  foundations  had  been  laid  for 
some  time.  The  sides  were  steep,  and  formed  of  ashes 
and  cinders.  At  one  of  the  sides,  or,  rather,  at  a  sort 
of  angle,  there  was  an  old  woman  slowly  toiling  her 
way  up,  by  a  kind  of  path,  so  far  as  any  thing  like  a 
path  is  possible  up  such  a  steep  ascent,  and  through 


92 


SUMMER   IN  SCOTLAND. 


Woman  and  children  searching  the  rubbish.  Poverty  and  guilt 

such  materials.  As  I  walked  along,  and  gradually 
brought  other  portions  of  the  hill  into  view,  I  saw  sev- 
eral other  women  and  children  near  the  top,  and  on 
the  declivities,  poking  among  the  smoking  embers,  as 
if  in  search  of  something.  Presently,  also,  I  saw  a  cart 
coming  around  a  point  of  the  hill,  half  way  up  to  the 
summit.  It  moved  along  as  if  in  a  road,  and,  passing 
across  that  face  of  the  mound  which  was  toward  me, 
gradually  ascending  all  the  time,  it  disappeared  at  last 
at  the  point  opposite  to  where  it  had  first  come  into 
view. 

I  inquired  of  two  women  who  were  sweeping  out  an 
oven  built  by  itself,  at  a  little  distance  from  their  cot- 
tage, what  those  people  were  looking  for  among  the 
cinders.  They  informed  me  that  they  were  looking  for 
bits  of  metal,  which  they  could  sell  for  something  to 
be  recast ;  that  the  heap  of  ashes  came  from  the  iron- 
works close  by ;  that  the  whole  mass  had  grown  up 
within  the  last  seven  years;  and  that  a  similar  one  had 
been  removed  at  that  time  to  make  the  rail-way  em- 
bankment. They  gave  me,  moreover,  a  sad  account 
of  the  characters  of  the  women  on  the  mound,  who, 
they  said,  were  quarreling  and  fighting  the  whole  time, 
and  filling  the  neighborhood  with  their  disturbances. 

I  walked  around  the  mound  to  find  the  cart-path,  and 
began  to  ascend.  The  side  of  the  road  toward  the  hill 
was  walled  up  rudely,  with  masses  of  clinker  and  cin- 
ders. In  some  places  grass  was  growing  upon  the 
slopes,  and  in  others  smoldering  fires  were  burning. 
After  a  long  ascent  I  approached  a  woman  sitting  by 
the  way-side,  old,  haggard,  dressed  in  rags,  and  cov- 
ered with  smoke  and  dust.  She  had  upon  her  coun- 
tenance a  stern,  hard  expression,  and  she  eyed  me  with 


COLLIERIES. 


93 


A  talk  with  an  old  woman.  A  purchase. 

a  look  of  suspicion,  as  if  she  did  not  know  whether  I 
was  coming  as  a  friend  or  an  enemy. 

It  is  not  generally  etiquette  to  bow  to  an  English 
woman  without  having  been  previously  introduced  ; 
but  in  this  case  I  thought  I  would  waive  ceremony,  and 
I  bowed  as  I  approached.    She  nodded  in  return. 

"  This  is  warm  work  for  you,  isn't  it  ?"  said  I. 

The  old  lady's  countenance  relaxed  at  finding  an  ex- 
pression of  sympathy  in  my  talk,  and  we  fell  into  con- 
versation. She  had  a  great  basket  of  half-burned  coal 
— a  sort  of  coke — which  she  was  carrying  home  to 
burn.  Her  apron,  too,  was  charged  with  bits  of  what 
she  called  metal.  I  got  her  to  let  me  see  them,  intend- 
ing to  buy  one  of  them,  as  a  specimen  of  the  materials 
out  of  which  extreme  misery,  in  such  a  country  as  this, 
may  get  its  food.  My  purchase,  however,  turned  out 
to  be  more  valuable  than  I  expected ;  for  among  her 
treasures  there  was  one  little  iron  tripod,  which  I  bought 
for  two-pence.  When  trimmed  and  brightened  up,  it 
will  make  a  very  respectable  plaything  for  some  child. 
I  can  hardly  say,  however,  that  I  bought  it,  for  the  old 
lady  said  I  should  be  welcome  to  it,  if  I  wanted  it,  for 
nothing.  I,  however,  gave  her  the  two-pence,  in  ex- 
change, for  which  she  seemed  very  grateful. 

I  asked  her  if  she  did  not  get  burned  sometimes,  and 
she  replied  that  she  did  ;  and  once  she  came  very  near 
being  swallowed  up  altogether,  where  the  fire  had  burn- 
ed away  underneath,  without  having  disturbed  the  sur- 
face. 

A  little  above  this  place  there  was  another  group, 
consisting  of  two  women  and  two  children  of  perhaps 
ten  or  twelve  years  of  age.  As  I  came  up  to  them,  I 
accosted  them,  as  I  had  done  the  good  woman  below, 


94 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Conversations.  Misery  and  sin. 

by  saying  that  it  must  be  warm  work  for  them  to  dig 
among  this  ashes. 

"  Yes,  sirr,  and  indeed  it  is  ;  and  the  warrk  is  na  the 
warst  of  it.  What  do  ye  think  of  a  woman  taking  up 
of  a  brick  and  doing  such  a  thing  as  this,  sirr  ?"  As 
she  said  this  with  great  eagerness  and  volubility,  she 
began  to  untie  a  handkerchief,  with  which  her  daugh- 
ter's head  was  enveloped,  the  child  looking  up  with  an 
expression  of  feminine  timidity  and  modesty,  which  I 
should  hardly  have  expected  to  find  under  all  that 
smoke  and  ashes. 

"  What  should  you  think  of  an  ould  woman,"  contm- 
ued  the  mother,  showing  me  a  great  swollen  contusion 
on  the  child's  face  and  neck ;  "  what  should  you  think 
of  an  ould  woman  taking  a  brick  and  bating  sooch  a 
child  as  this  in  that  way,  sirr  ?" 

"Ah  !"  said  I. 

"  Yes,  sir,  and  knocking  the  teeth  of  her  out  of  her 
head,  too." 

"  Indeed  !"  said  I. 

"  Yes,  sirr  ;  it  is  all  the  thruth,  and  it  is  that  very 
woman  out  there,  that  you  have  been  a  talking  to,  that 
has  done  it;  and  a  shameful  thing  it  is  for  a  brute  beast, 
let  alone  a  Christian." 

In  the  mean  time,  the  old  amazon,  who  still  kept  her 
seat  where  I  had  left  her,  looked  defiance  and  death  at 
her  accuser,  and  at  the  first  pause  replied, 

*•  Then  why  dinna  ye  mak'  your  daughter  learn  bet- 
ter manners  ?" 

Poor  human  nature  !  To  think  that  a  company, 
mothers  and  children,  so  abject  in  misery,  reduced  to 
the  necessity  of  groping  for  the  means  of  living,  from 
day  to  day,  in  such  a  heap  of  burning  cinders  as  this, 


COLLIERIES. 


97 


Human  nature.  Contrasts.  The  William  Pit. 

could  have  the  heart  to  imbitter  still  more  their  wretch- 
ed existence,  by  hating  and  devouring  one  another  !  I 
gave  them  some  half-pence,  and  then  continued  my 
winding  walk  up  the  hill. 

It  was  curious  to  observe,  by-the-way,  how  the  same 
feelings  and  ideas  which  characterize  human  life  every 
where  were  represented  among  the  inhabitants  of  this 
region.  In  the  road  below  I  had  passed  a  group  of 
girls  dancing  in  a  ring,  and  playing  with  great  hilarity 
and. seeming  enjoyment,  "Here  my  father  sows  his 
seed,"  &c.  In  another  place,  where  barefooted  women 
were  hard  at  work,  stacking  up  bricks  in  a  brick-yard 
to  dry,  their  children  had  a  doll  of  rags,  which  they 
were  hushing  to  sleep  in  their  smutty  aprons,  with 
gestures  of  great  affection  for  it ;  and  at  another  still, 
where  every  thing  seemed  to  me  utterly  abandoned  to 
smoke,  dust,  and  cinders,  I  heard  a  voice,  as  I  passed, 
from  the  window  of  a  cottage,  addressing  a  boy  in  the 
road,  "  Get  oop  there  oot  of  the  dirt ;  that's  the  way 
ye  lairn  yur  little  sister  to  sit  doon  there." 

But  I  must  go  on  more  rapidly  with  my  story,  or  I 
shall  never  get  down  into  the  coal-pit.  When  I  came 
down  from  the  mound,  I  wandered  on  in  the  direction 
which  my  informant  at  the  old  steam-engine  had  indi- 
cated. There  was  no  regular  road,  but  only  a  sort  of 
cart-path,  winding  its  way  wherever  it  could  find  an 
opening  among  machine-shops,  forges,  lime-kilns,  and 
blackened  cottages.  I  inquired  from  time  to  time  for 
"  the  William  Pit,"  and  received  such  answers  as,  "  I 
dinna  ken  the  William  Pit,  sir ;"  or,  "  Ye  are  varry 
right,  sir ;  gang  strite  alang  ;"  or,  "  There  away  at  is, 
joost  bye  the  tallest  chimberly."  I  found  I  was  coming 
out  very  near  the  river,  and  at  length  arrived  at  a  little 

I 


08 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Steam  pump.  Machinery.  Platform. 

village  of  shops  and  dwellings,  standing  by  itself,  which 
proved  to  be  at  the  mouth  of  the  "William  Pit." 

Near  it  was  a  tall  chimney  shaped  like  the  nose  of  a 
bellows,  standing  by  itself,  and  rising  to  a  vast  eleva- 
tion. I  stood  gazing  upward  at  the  summit  of  this 
enormous  structure  for  a  few  minutes,  and  then  turned 
to  look  at  a  ponderous  steam-engine  working  a  pump. 
The  great  piston-rod  of  the  pump  descended  slowly 
and  deliberately,  and,  after  pausing  a  moment  as  if  to 
take  breath  before  lifting  its  heavy  load  of  w^ater,  it 
rose  slowly,  but  with  an  expression  of  most  determined 
force.  It  moved  so  deliberately  as  to  make  only  about 
six  of  its  lifts  in  a  minute.  My  attention  was  next  at- 
tracted to  a  large  raised  platform,  with  many  struc- 
tures, and  much  machinery  upon  it  and  around  it ;  and 
a  multitude  of  men  and  boys,  black  with  coal  dust,  were 
busy  upon  it,  trundling  little  wagons  of  coal  to  and  fro, 
>iud  upsetting  them  upon  inclined  planes,  by  which  the 
"oals  were  shot  down  to  great  rail- way  wagons  which 
Uood  below,  in  long  rows,  to  receive  them.  There 
were  two  great  iron  wheels  in  the  air,  above  this  plat- 
form,, with  a  long,  rope-like  band  passing  over  them, 
and  descending  into  an  opening  in  the  platform,  which 
appeared  like  the  mouth  of  a  great  well.  The  wheels 
w^ere  turning  swiftly  round,  and  the  band  on  one  side 
descending,  and  on  the  other  ascending,  when  I  first 
'.observed  the  apparatus.  A  moment  afterward  a  great 
-mge  came  up  suddenly  to  view  at  the  end  of  the  as- 
cending rope.  It  had  a  cylindrical  roof  over  it,  which 
w^as  dripping  with  w^ater.  It  was  open  at  the  two 
ends,  and  contained  within  two  of  the  little  square 
wagons  above  referred  to.  They  might  be  three  feet 
long,  two  wide,  and  two  high.  They  w^ere  upon  wheels, 


COLLIERIES. 


99 


Cages.  Deep  descent.  Getting  dressed. 

the  wheels  resting  upon  rails  in  the  bottom  of  the  cage. 
These  rails  were  in  such  a  position  that  w^hen  the  floor 
of  the  cage  came  up  to  the  platform,  the  rails  formed  a 
connection  with  similar  ones  laid  in  the  platform  itself, 
so  that  the  little  wagons  could  be  trundled  out  at  once, 
and  discharged  down  the  inclined  plains  as  before  ex- 
plained. The  cage  being  thus  unloaded,  empty  cars 
were  immediately  run  into  it,  a  handle  was  pulled,  and 
the  cage  instantaneously  began  to  descend  with  great 
velocity,  the  rope,  or  band,  on  the  other  side  rising  as 
I'apidly.  I  watched  it  a  few  minutes,  in  order  to  judge, 
by  the  time  which  elapsed  before  it  reached  the  bottom, 
how  deep  the  shaft  must  be.  It  ran  with  great  veloc- 
ity, and,  to  be  within  bounds  as  to  time,  I  will  say  it 
continued  to  run  a  full  minute,  when  another  cage  ap- 
peared at  the  other  end  of  the  rope.  This  second  cage 
delivered  its  load  and  set  out  upon  its  return,  as  the 
other  had  done,  and  without  a  moment's  delay. 

This  was,  as  I  inferred,  the  shaft,  down  which  I  was 
to  descend.  After  some  inquiry  among  the  workmen, 
I  found  the  officer  in  command,  called  the  viewer-,  who 
said  if  I  would  go  to  a  house  which  he  pointed  out  to 
me,  I  should  find  Andrew  Curtis,  who  would  go  down 
with  me.  I  went,  and  found  a  very  comfortable  dwell- 
ing, and  extremely  neat  and  tidy  within.  I  soon  made 
the  arrangement  with  my  guide.  "  But  ye'll  want 
some  claes,"  he  said  ;  "  gang  oop  stairs  with  my  miss- 
us, and  she'll  soon  put  you  to  rights." 

I  followed  the  good  lady  to  a  very  pleasant-looking 
sitting-room  up  stairs,  and  she  brought  from  a  closet 
my  accouterments  for  the  expedition.  There  was  a 
striped  shirt,  very  coarse,  but  clean,  which  I  was  "  to 
pit  aboon  my  ain ;"  and  so  with  all  the  other  articles. 


100 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Heaps  of  burning  cinders.  A  tall  chimney. 

ending  with  a  leather  cap  shaped  like  a  bowl.  The 
woman  left  me  after  giving  me  my  clothes,  and,  hav- 
ing dressed  myself  according  to  the  directions,  I  de- 
scended the  stairs,  and  my  guide,  who  was  a  large, 
good-natured  sort  of  man,  surveyed  me  from  head  to 
foot,  and  said,  "  Ye'll  not  do  to  gang  into  Newcastle  in 
that  fashion,  I'm  thinkin'." 

We  walked  along  toward  the  shaft,  passing  by  a 
great  blacksmith's  shop,  where  the  tools  were  made 
and  repaired,  and  a  wheel-wright's,  where  the  manu- 
facture of  the  wagons,  and  other  such  appendages  to 
the  establishment,  was  going  on.  Our  road  to  the  plat- 
form lay  up  one  of  those  great  heaps  of  burning  coals 
and  cinders  which  I  have  before  described.  I  asked 
my  guide  if  the  fire  was  always  burning  upon  it.  "  Yes," 
said  he,  "  always  ;  you  can't  put  it  out."  He  pointed 
to  the  tall  chimney,  which,  he  said,  was  "  a  very  pritty 
bit  of  wark."  He  said  it  was  three  hundred  feet  high, 
twenty  feet  diameter  at  the  base,  and  eight  at  the  sum- 
mit, where  it  was  capped  with  stone.*  It  had  stood,  I 
think  he  said,  fifteen  years,  and  was  as  true  and  straight 
as  ever.  He  asked  me  to  look  up  and  see  if  I  could 
see  a  hole  in  the  stone  border,  or  cap,  at  the  summit. 
I  could  just  perceive  a  little  speck.  He  then  explain- 
ed that  the  lightning  had  struck  the  chimney  some 
years  before,  and  knocked  out  a  piece  of  stone  of  near- 
ly a  ton  weight,  and  yet  the  mark  w^as  scarcely  visible 
from  the  ground. 

We  now  advanced  toward  the  shaft,  and  when  the 
loaded  cars  were  taken  out  of  a  cage  which  then  came 
up,  I  stepped  in  upon  one  side  and  my  guide  upon  the 

*  The  Banker  Hill  Monument  is  221  feet  in  height,  and  the  epire  of  Trin- 
ity Church  264. 


COLLIERIES. 


101 


Preparatioiui.  Awkward  suspense.  A  rapid  descent. 

Other.  My  guide  at  this  moment  got  into  some  dis- 
cussion with  one  of  the  coal  men  upon  the  platform 
about  some  question  of  business,  in  which  they  seemed 
not  to  agree,  so  that  another  of  the  workmen  directed 
me  what  to  do.  "  Step  right  in,"  said  he,  "  and  take 
hould  of  this  bar."  The  cage  was  high  enough  for  me 
to  stand  upright  in  it ;  but  there  was  a  round  iron  bar, 
wet  and  rusty,  passing  across  from  end  to  end,  about 
as  high  as  my  shoulder.  I  put  my  arm  over  it,  and, 
feeling  that  I  was  hanging  over  the  top  of  a  hole  eight 
hundred  feet  deep,  stood  waiting  for  the  signal  for  them 
to  let  us  drop. 

I  say  to  let  us  drop,  for  to  go  down  perpendicularly 
eight  hundred  feet  in  a  minute,  more  or  less,  is  literally 
falling,  though,  perhaps,  not  falling  quite  so  fast  as  one 
would  without  any  means  of  retardation.  I  was,  of 
course,  naturally  anxious  to  have  the  operation  pro- 
ceed ;  but,  unfortunately,  my  guide,  and  his  interlocutor 
on  the  platform,  could  not  come  to  an  agreement  on 
the  point  at  issue  between  them.  With  his  hand  on 
the  lever  which  was  to  let  us  go,  he  remained  some 
time  discussing  the  point;  and  I,  not  understanding  at 
all  the  merits  of  the  question,  of  course  had  nothing  to 
do  for  my  amusement  but  to  speculate  on  the  nature 
of  the  sensations  which  I  was  about  to  experience,  and 
the  consequences  to  all  concerned,  if  the  rope  or  any 
of  the  machinery  should  happen  to  give  way. 

At  last  the  signal  was  given,  and  down  we  went. 
The  sensation  w^as  precisely  that  of  falling  from  a  great 
height.  It  was  down,  down,  down,  until  at  last  all 
daylight  disappeared,  and  then  down,  down  again  in 
darkness.  At  length  we  began  to  hear  voices  reverb- 
erating through  the  shaft.  I  asked  if  they  were  from 
12 


102 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  bottom  of  the  pit.  Subterranean  rail-ways. 

above  or  from  below.  "  From  below,"  said  the  guide. 
They  grew  louder  and  louder.  We  could  hear  the 
trundling  of  cars,  and  men  shouting  to  horses,  with 
cries  rendered  loud  and  resounding  by  the  reverbera- 
tions and  echoes.  At  last  we  suddenly  stopped  with 
a  loud  clanking  noise,  produced  by  the  striking  of  our 
cage  upon  the  iron  fastenings  at  the  bottom.  We 
stepped  out  of  the  cage  upon  the  floor  of  the  mine.  I 
could  see  nothing  but  a  few  luminous  points,  made  by 
lamps  and  candles,  and  rows  of  white  teeth  and  shining 
eyes,  in  the  midst  of  black  faces  grinning  here  and 
there,  and  peering  at  us  out  of  the  darkness. 

"  Come  here  a  bit,"  said  my  guide,  "  and  sit  ye  doon 
on  this,  till  ye  get  the  sun  oot  of  your  eyes." 

So  saying,  he  led  me  a  step  or  two,  and  putting  his 
hand  upon  a  damp  and  blackened  beam,  which  he 
showed  me  by  the  light  of  a  taper,  attached  mysteri- 
ously to  the  wall,  motioned  to  me  to  take  a  seat.  I  at 
first  hesitated,  forgetting,  for  the  moment,  that  I  was 
dressed  for  the  occasion. 

"  Sit  doon  quick,"  said  he  ;  "  here  comes  a  horse." 

A  thundering  sound  rising  here  above  the  general 
din,  marked  the  advance  of  a  train  of  cars,  drawn  by 
a  horse,  cheered  on  by  the  outcries  of  an  invisible  boy. 
The  form  of  the  horse  gradually  revealed  itself,  and 
then  the  little  cars,  ten  of  them  in  a  row.  They  had 
come,  loaded  with  coal,  to  be  drawn  up  where  we  had 
descended. 

My  guide  began  to  talk  rapidly  with  the  men  around 
us,  but  in  a  language  of  which  I  could  not  understand 
a  single  word.  They  brought  him  a  key,  however, 
with  which  he  unlocked  a  chest,  or  something  which, 
as  far  as  I  could  see,  was  a  chest.    It  was  full  of  little 


COLLIERIES. 


103 


Candles.  Clay  candlesticks.  Arched  passages. 

candles,  six  inches  long,  and  as  large  as  a  very  small 
little  finger.  He  put  some  of  these  candles  into  a  tin 
box  which  he  got  from  the  chest,  and  then  took  some 
soft  clay,  and  began  to  mold  it  about  the  end  of  one  of 
the  candles  for  a  candlestick.  "You  use  candles,  I 
see,"  said  I.  "  Yes,"  replied  he,  "  twenty-four  to  the 
poond  ;  they're  better  nor  rush-lights.  But  I'll  give 
you  a  lamp  ;  I  don't  think  you  can  carry  a  candle." 

But  I  insisted  on  trying.  One  of  the  men  showed 
me  how  to  place  my  candle  between  the  fore  and  mid- 
dle fingers  of  the  right  hand,  and  to  fill  up  all  the  re- 
maining space  between  the  fingers  with  the  clay.  It 
was  placed  in  such  a  manner  that  the  lighted  part  was 
on  the  palm  side  of  the  hand,  and  very  near  the  fingers, 
the  rest  of  the  candle  projecting  on  the  other  side. 
Thus  the  clay,  instead  of  being  at  the  end  of  the  can- 
dle, was  very  near  the  lighted  part.  I  did  not  under- 
stand all  this  at  the  time,  though  I  afterward  found  that 
by  this  arrangement  the  flame  was  sheltered  by  my 
hand  and  the  clay  from  the  currents  of  air  drawing 
through  the  mine. 

In  the  mean  time,  as  by  degrees  "  the  daylight  got 
out  of  my  eyes,"  I  began  to  see  where  I  was.  There 
was  a  vaulted  arch- way  of  masonry  over  head,  and 
here  and  there  openings,  likewise  arched,  but  dark  and 
gloomy  in  expression,  and  nothing  to  be  seen  within 
them  but  luminous  points,  dim,  few,  and  far  between. 
We  arose  and  began  our  subterranean  tour.  My  guide 
informed  me  that  the  drifts,  as  they  are  called,  or  hori- 
zontal passages,  run  off  in  various  directions  for  three 
quarters  of  a  mile.  It  seems  the  coal  lies  in  thin  beds 
— that  of  this  mine  being  about  six  feet  thick — which 
beds  are  nearly  horizontal,  and  extend  to  vast  distan- 


104 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Plan  of  the  mine.  Necessity  of  ventilation.  Chimney. 

ces  in  every  direction.  Of  course,  to  work  one  of  the 
beds,  they  first  sink  a  well,  or  shaft  as  they  call  it,  down 
to  the  bed  ;  then  they  dig  off  in  various  directions  in 
the  bed,  sending  up  the  coal  which  they  obtain  by  the 
excavations.  They  can  not  take  away  all  the  coal  of 
the  bed,  for  this  would  deprive  the  superincumbent 
rock  of  support,  and  it  would  come  down  and  crush 
them.  They  are  obliged,  in  fact,  to  leave  much  more 
of  the  coal  than  they  take  away,  taking  care  always 
that  the  passages  which  they  cut  are  far  enough  apart 
to  secure  effectual  support  for  the  strata  above.  In 
some  cases,  where  these  precautions  have  not  been  ef- 
fectually taken,  the  strata  fall  in  from  above  and  make 
great  mischief.  In  one  instance,  a  tract  of  land,  two 
miles  square,  fell  in,  with  a  noise  and  commotion  like 
that  of  an  earthquake,  in  consequence  of  excavations 
four  or  five  hundred  feet  below. 

There  is  another  circumstance  which  affects  very 
much  the  manner  of  cutting  the  passages  in  one  of  these 
beds.  There  issue  from  the  coal  all  the  time  copious 
streams  of  gas,  which,  when  it  accumulates  in  suffi- 
cient quantities,  and  gets  mixed  with  common  air,  be- 
comes highly  explosive  ;  and  if,  under  such  circum- 
stances, it  gets  enkindled  by  the  torch  or  candle  of 
the  miner,  the  most  terrible  consequences  sometimes 
ensue.  To  guard  against  this,  it  is  necessary  to  have 
the  mines  at  all  times  perfectly  ventilated.  To  secure 
this  ventilation,  they  have  another  shaft,  besides  the 
one  where  the  coal  ascends,  and  near  the  bottom  of 
this  second  shaft  they  keep  enormous  fires  perpetually 
burning.  The  smoke  and  heated  air  from  these  fires 
pass  up  the  shaft,  which  thus  forms  a  chimney  eight 
hundred  feet  high.    The  draft  of  such  a  chimney  is,  of 


COLLIERIES. 


105 


t  Mode  of  ventilation.  Long  passages. 

course,  extremely  great ;  and  the  passages  cut  in  the 
coal  are  so  planned,  and  so  connected,  that  the  supply 
of  air  for  these  fires  must  come  through  every  part  of 
the  mine  before  it  can  reach  them,  thus  keeping  every 
part  thoroughly  ventilated.  In  other  words,  the  pas- 
'sages  are  so  connected  at  their  extremities,  and  sep- 
arated at  every  other  point,  that  the  air  must  come 
dow^n  the  main  shaft  and  be  dravi^n  through  them  all 
before  it  can  reach  the  fires.  This  nov^  can  only  be 
done  by  means  of  long  passages,  with  no  side  openings, 
or  with  such  only  as  can  be  closed  up.  And  this  ren- 
ders it  impossible  to  adopt  what  might  otherwise  be 
the  simplest  plan,  viz.,  a  system  of  general  excavations 
in  every  direction,  leaving  only  detached  pillars  of  coal 
to  support  the  strata  above. 

We  set  out  to  explore  one  of  these  long  passages. 
The  way  was  narrow,  seemingly  but  just  wide  enough 
for  a  couple  of  rails  extending  along  the  track,  for  the 
little  wagons,  or  "  toobs,"  as  the  guide  called  them,  to 
be  drawn  upon.  I  carried  my  candle,  and  the  guide 
took  what  he  called  a  lamp.  It  was  a  little  tin  buck- 
et, open  at  the  top,  and  provided  with  a  common  bail 
for  a  handle.  At  the  side  near  the  bottom  was  a  tube, 
branching  out  a  little  way,  which  contained  the  wick. 
This  wick  was  very  large,  and  blazed  and  smoked  like 
a  torch. 

We  walked  on  for  some  distance,  when  at  length  I 
heard  the  thunder  of  a  rail-road  train  coming  up  behind 
me.  It  is  true,  the  locomotive  was  but  a  horse,  and  the 
cars  were  empty  and  small,  but  it  made  as  much  noise 
as  any  rail-road  train  I  ever  heard,  in  consequence  of 
the  reverberations  and  echoes  of  the  dismal  den  through 
which  it  was  moving. 


106 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Rail-road  train.  Under  the  Tjue. 

"  Whaf  s  this,"  said  I,  "  coming  to  run  over  us  ?" 

"  It  is  the  horse,"  said  the  guide,  very  coolly,  and 
walking  on.  There  seemed  to  be  no  possibility  of 
turning  out  of  the  way,  as  the  drift  seemed  barely  wide 
enough  for  the  track.  However,  a  moment  before  the 
horse  overtook  us,  we  found  a  sort  of  shelf  in  the  coal 
upon  one  side,  where  we  clambered  up  while  the  train 
came  on.  The  boy  who  drove  it  had  a  dim  lantern  in 
his  hand,  by  the  light  of  which  we  could  see  him  grin- 
ning a  good-natured  recognition  of  the  guide  as  his 
unearthly  convoy  thundered  by. 

We  scrambled  down  from  our  place  of  refuge,  and 
walked  on.  A  fresh  breeze  was  drawing  along  the 
drift,  in  the  direction  in  which  we  were  going,  so  that, 
with  all  the  contrivances  for  assisting  me,  I  found  it 
very  difficult  to  preserve  my  light.  I  asked  my  guide 
what  he  should  do  if  both  lights  were  to  go  out.  He 
said  he  should  just  light  them  again  at  the  nearest  light 
he  could  find.  As  we  advanced  trains  of  cars  contin- 
ually met  or  overtook  us  ;  and  lights  were  here  and 
there  hung  at  corners  and  forks  in  the  roads,  which 
branched  in  every  direction,  though  the  openings  were 
sometimes  closed  by  great  wooden  doors,  to  regulate 
the  ventilation.  At  length  my  guide  stopped  a  mo- 
ment, and  said  that  he  should  think  we  were  now  just 
about  under  the  Tyne.  The  drift,  or  main,  as  they 
call  one  of  these  under-ground  streets,  which  we  were 
pursuing,  took  a  northerly  direction,  and,  as  it  com- 
menced on  the  south  bank  of  the  river,  of  course  pass- 
ed under  its  bed. 

Half  a  mile  further  we  came  to  a  part  of  the  mine 
where  the  thickness  of  the  bed  of  coal  was  not  great 
enough  for  men  and  horses  to  work,  and  their  places 


COLLIERIES. 


107 


Shetland  ponies.  Boys.  Plan  of  paying  them.  "  Tokens." 

were  taken  by  boys  and  Shetland  ponies.  We  came 
into  a  sort  of  circular  apartment,  where  some  of  these 
boys  were  eating  their  luncheons.  We  could  see  them 
very  indistinctly,  on  account  of  the  dimness  of  the  light. 
The  little  savages  had  no  clothing  except  an  apron  and 
a  jacket  without  sleeves,  both  made,  I  should  judge, 
without  needles,  and  tied  on.  They  looked  bright  and 
active,  and  worked  away  with  a  hearty  good-will. 
They  seemed  pleased  to  show  off  their  ponies  and  their 
little  trains  of  cars  before  us.  Their  dexterity  in  hand- 
ling their  little  candles,  with  a  ball  of  clay  on  the  end 
of  them,  was  surprising.  They  would  stick  one  of 
them  on  a  post  or  on  the  wall  as  they  went  by,  and 
then,  after  delivering  their  full  cars  and  taking  empty 
ones,  they  would  catch  off  their  candle  on  their  return, 
and  stick  it  on  the  return  car  again,  without  stopping 
their  motion. 

These  boys  are  paid  according  to  the  number  of 
"  toobs"  which  they  get  down  from  the  extreme  ends 
of  the  drift,  where  the  coal  is  hewed  out  from  the  mine, 
to  the  place  where  the  larger  boys  and  men  take  them 
with  horses.  The  ponies  draw  two  tubs  and  the  horses 
ten.  Each  man  or  boy  puts  his  token,  as  they  call  it, 
which  is  a  little  ticket  of  tin  or  leathei',  upon  each  tub 
which  he  forwards.  These  tickets  contain  his  initials, 
and  they  are  all  taken  off  at  the  mouth  of  the  shaft,  and 
preserved  till  night,  when  they  are  counted  and  sorted, 
and  the  amount  of  work  which  each  one  has  performed 
is  ascertained.  As  each  tub  is  transported  first  by  the 
pony,  and  then  by  the  horse,  there  will  be,  of  course, 
two  tokens  upon  each.  The  men  who  hew  out  the 
coal  are  also  paid  by  the  quantity  they  get,  and  if  there 
are  stones  or  slates  mixed  with  it,  the  parties  responsi- 


108 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Interesting  dialogue.  Benjamin  Franklin. 

ble  are  fined.  The  men  are  all  paid  once  a  fortnight, 
and  the  last  payment  required  £300,  not  far  from  $1500 

My  guide  gave  me  this  information  as  we  pursued 
our  way,  interrupted  continually  by  the  coming  and 
going  of  the  ponies  and  their  cars. 

At  one  time  I  remarked  to  him  that  all  this  scene 
was  new  to  me,  as  I  did  not  live  in  England.  I  was  a 
foreigner.    "  Ah  !"  said  he,  "  indade  f 

"  Yes,"  replied  I ;  "  I  am  from  America." 

He  stopped  suddenly  in  his  walk,  turned  round 
and  faced  me,  and  said,  with  an  accent  of  the  great- 
est astonishment  and  pleasure,  "  Indade !  from  Amer- 
iky  ?"  Presently  he  resumed  his  walk,  but  contin- 
ued to  ejaculate,  "  Indade  !  Then  it  is  from  Ameriky 
that  ye'U  be.  Well,  Ameriky  will  be  the  first-rate 
country  of  the  world  in  somebody's  day,  I  reckon." 
He  continued  extremely  interested  in  this  topic  ;  made 
a  great  many  inquiries,  and  received,  perhaps,  as  much 
information  from  me,  about  the  workings  of  our  insti- 
tutions, as  he  gave  me  about  the  mine.  He  liked  Ben- 
jamin Franklin  very  much.  "  I  have  bought  his  life 
three  or  four  times,"  said  he ;  "I  lend  them,  and  then 
they  don't  bring  'em  back  again,  you  know." 

Talking  on  in  this  way,  we  at  last  reached  the  ex- 
tremity of  one  of  the  branches  of  the  mine.  Here  we 
found  a  man  at  work  with  a  pickax  picking  down  the 
wall  of  coal  before  him,  while  the  boys  shoveled  it  up 
into  one  of  the  tubs  or  cars  ready  there  for  its  recep- 
tion. The  black  and  narrow  boundaries  of  their  scene 
of  labor  were  revealed  by  the  flickering  light  of  a  lamp 
hung  against  the  wall,  and  by  the  taper-like  candles  of 
the  boys,  stuck  upon  the  carts  by  means  of  the  bits  of 
clay.    The  party  engaged  at  once  in  rapid  and  spirit- 


COLLIERIES. 


109 


Life  in  the  mine.  Gas.  Pony  trains. 

ed  conversation  with  my  guide,  who  was  a  sort  of 
overseer  among  them.  The  relations  between  him  and 
them  appeared  to  be  of  a  very  friendly  character,  and 
the  whole  scene,  as  soon  as  one  becomes  a  little  ac- 
customed to  its  dismal  blackness  and  gloom,  seems  one 
of  contented  and  happy  labor.  The  men  had  their 
frolics  and  jokes,  their  forms  of  etiquette  and  politeness, 
their  pride  and  love  of  display  ;  and,  in  fact,  they  man- 
ifested all  the  usual  phenomena  which  social  life  de- 
velops in  man.  We  visited  several  other  branches, 
where  at  the  extremities  they  were  working  the  coal, 
and  witnessed  at  each  the  same  scene.  At  one  of 
them,  during  a  momentary  pause  of  the  conversation, 
I  thought  I  heard  a  hissing  sound.  On  listening,  I  per- 
ceived that  it  came  from  the  surface  of  the  coal  in  the 
walls  around  me.  It  was  the  gas  coming  out  through 
the  pores  and  crevices.  On  a  close  examination,  I  could 
perceive  little  spots  of  frothy  effervescence  produced 
by  the  issuing  of  the  gas  through  the  moisture  of  the 
coal.  The  only  safety  in  such  a  place  as  this  is  in  the 
arrangements  for  ventilation,  by  which  a  constant  cur- 
rent of  air,  circulating  through  the  passage,  prevents 
the  explosive  compound  from  accumulating  in  such 
quantities  as  to  take  fire  from  the  lamps  of  the  miners. 

As  we  continued  our  walk,  after  visiting  these  sta- 
tions, trains  of  cars,  drawn  by  the  ponies,  were  con- 
tinually coming  and  going,  and  we  got  out  of  their  way 
by  stepping  sometimes  into  some  niche,  left  in  the  wall 
by  an  old  drift,  which  had  been  closed  up,  and  at  oth- 
er times  upon  the  side  track ;  for  in  some  places  the 
tracks  were  double.  Occasionally,  where  there  was 
apparently  no  opportunity  for  escape,  the  guide  would 
hasten  on  a  little  for  a  few  steps,  and  come  to  a  place 

K 


110 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Solitude  in  the  mine.  Support8  for  the  roof. 

of  safety  just  in  time.  He  knew  exactly  where  to  find 
these  retreats,  being  perfectly  familiar  with  every  por- 
tion of  the  mine.  Sometimes  he  would  call  to  the  boys 
to  stop,  and  sometimes  they  would  stop  of  their  own 
accord,  at  a  place  where  we  could  easily  pass ;  and 
then,  showing  us  a  row  of  white  teeth  and  bright  eyes, 
gleaming  out  of  a  face  black  as  the  walls  of  their  pris- 
on, they  would  chirrup  cheerily  to  the  pony,  and 
drive  on. 

At  one  place  my  guide  wanted  to  leave  me  for  a  few 
minutes,  and  he  asked  me  "  to  sit  doon  there  a  bit,  and 
he  would  be  back  directly."  I  took  my  seat,  clay  and 
candle  in  hand,  and  he  went  away  in  the  direction  of 
some  sounds  of  voices  and  labor,  either  distant,  or 
deadened  by  intervening  walls.  He  was  soon  lost  to 
view,  and  I  sat  contemplating  the  scene.  The  walls 
of  my  dungeon  were  black ;  the  roof  was  of  a  crum- 
bling, slaty  structure,  which,  showing  here  some  signs 
of  weakness,  was  propped  up,  as  was  not  unfrequently 
the  case,  with  small  wooden  posts.  I  was  eight  hund- 
red feet  below  the  ground,  and  nearly  a  mile  from  any 
possible  egress,  with  a  river,  loaded  with  shipping,  over 
my  head,  between.  A  cool  breeze  was  drawing  along 
the  shaft,  which  maneuvered  in  every  way  to  get  my 
light  put  out,  but  without  success.  At  length  my  lost 
conductor  returned,  and  we  proceeded  on  our  way. 

When  we  had  nearly  completed  our  circuit,  and 
were  returning  to  the  place  of  entrance,  though  by  a 
different  route  from  that  by  which  we  had  left  it,  my 
conductor  said,  "  Now  we  will  go  and  see  the  furnace 
and,  at  the  same  time,  he  led  me  through  a  sort  of  side 
passage  to  a  great  wooden  door,  which  completely 
closed  the  way.    We  could  hear  the  wind  drawing 


COLLIERIES. 


Ill 


Approach  to  the  furnace.  Fires.  Grand  scene. 

briskly  through  the  crevices  of  this  door,  and  I  expect- 
ed that,  as  soon  as  it  was  opened,  the  draft  would  be 
very  strong,  so  as  inevitably  to  extinguish  our  lights. 
But  instead  of  this,  on  opening  the  door,  there  was  a 
dead  calm.  We  proceeded,  shutting  the  door  after  us. 
The  man  explained  the  phenomenon  by  saying  that 
there  was  another  door  at  a  short  distance  ahead,  so 
that  when  one  was  opened  the  other  "  took  the  weight," 
and  prevented  a  draft  of  air ;  for  it  was  necessary  to 
prevent  the  furnace  getting  a  supply  of  air  from  this 
passage,  which  was  a  sort  of  cross-way,  as  it  would 
tend  to  diminish  the  circulation  through  the  whole  ex- 
tent of  the  mine.  We  soon  came  to  the  second  door, 
where  the  wind  was  whistling  as  in  the  other,  and,  on 
opening  it,  there  was  the  same  calm.  We  closed  this 
door  after  us  and  went  on. 

We  soon  saw  a  great  glowing  light  before  us.  Ad- 
vancing to  it,  we  came  to  a  large  vaulted  apartment, 
lighted  magnificently  by  two  great  blazing  fires.  These 
fires  were  at  one  end,  on  ponderous  gratings,  five  feet 
from  the  ground,  at  the  entrances  of  two  arched  pas- 
sage-ways, looking  like  the  mouths  of  enormous  ovens. 
The  fires  were  of  coal,  and  they  blazed  with  great 
fierceness  and  heat,  being  fanned  by  the  strong  cur- 
rents of  air  which  came  from  the  passages  leading 
here  from  all  parts  of  the  mine.  The  bright  flashes  ol 
the  flame  illuminated  these  passages  a  little  way  with 
a  lurid  and  flickering  light,  and  beyond,  the  view  was 
lost  in  vistas  of  blackness  and  gloom.  At  the  mouth 
of  one  of  these  drifts,  or  mains,  was  a  little  wind-mill  at- 
tached to  an  iron  rod  fastened  into  the  wall.  It  was 
revolving  with  inconceivable  velocity  from  the  eflfect 
of  the  current  of  air. 


112 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Old  fireman.  Safety-lamp.  Quick  ascent. 

The  apartment  was,  perhaps,  twenty  feet  square. 
We  took  our  seats  on  a  low  bench  at  the  further  side 
of  it ;  and  even  there  the  heat  and  glow  of  the  fires 
was  as  great  as  could  comfortably  be  borne.  There 
was  a  great  heap  of  coal  upon  the  paved  floor,  ready 
for  replenishing  the  fire,  and  an  old  man,  with  his 
shovel  in  his  hand,  sitting  upon  it,  resting  a  moment 
from  his  work.  Here  he  remains  in  solitude  for  twelve 
hours,  except  so  far  as  his  solitude  is  relieved  by  such 
chance  visitors  as  we  were,  and  then  his  place  is  tak- 
en by  another  man,  who  feeds  the  fires  for  twelve 
hours  more.  They  keep  them  thus  burning  night  and 
day,  perpetually. 

There  was  a  Davy's  safety-lamp  hung  upon  the  wall, 
which  they  use  when  there  is  reason  to  fear  that  the 
gas  has  accumulated  in  any  part  of  the  mine  so  as  to 
make  it  unsafe  to  take  a  common  lamp  there.  The 
safety-lamp  is  covered  and  protected  by  a  cylinder  of 
wire  gauze,  which,  singularly  enough,  is  found  to  pre- 
vent the  passage  of  the  flame.  They  always  keep  one 
of  these  lamps  ready  for  use,  and  it  is  often  found  nec- 
essary to  use  it  in  exploring  the  mines  in  the  morning 
before  the  workmen  commence  the  labors  of  the  day. 

We  left  the  bright  fires  of  the  furnace-room,  and, 
passing  through  another  passage,  different  from  the  one 
by  which  we  came,  we  returned  to  the  place  where 
we  had  descended.  We  mounted  as  rapidly  as  we  had 
gone  down,  the  sensation  being,  as  far  as  I  could  judge, 
precisely  that  of  being  taken  up  in  a  balloon  which  had 
lost  its  ballast,  and  was  running  away  with  the  aero- 
naut with  a  much  swifter  flight  than  was  agreeable. 

I  will  add,  in  conclusion,  that  the  whole  region  round 


COLLIERIES. 


113 


Lower  and  upper  world.  Shields.  Promenade.  Prospect 

about  Newcastle,  and  up  and  down  the  Tyne,  is  en- 
tirely undermined  with  excavations  like  these  ;  so  that 
there  is  a  great  lower  world  every  where  here,  as  well 
as  an  upper,  busy  at  their  toil  from  morning  till  night. 
The  Tyne  flows  through  this  region ;  and  all  the  way 
between  Newcastle  and  the  sea  it  is  thronged  with 
shipping  which  comes  to  carry  away  the  products  of 
the  mines  and  manufactures.  At  the  mouth  of  the  riv- 
er is  an  old  town  called  Shields,  built  upon  the  clifts. 
There  are  broad,  paved  streets,  parallel  with  the  river, 
at  various  levels,  and  stair-way  streets,  or  alleys,  de- 
scending from  one  to  the  other.  At  one  place  a  broad 
graveled  walk,  or  road,  is  formed,  as  it  were,  for  a  prom- 
enade on  the  brink  of  the  precipice.  On  one  side  of 
this  promenade  are  houses  and  gardens ;  on  the  other 
there  is  a  parapet,  over  which  you  look  down  upon 
tiled  roofs  and  quaint  chimneys — paved  court-yards  at 
different  levels,  and  narrow  flights  of  old  stone  stair- 
ways, leading  to  the  streets  below.  From  this  terrace 
you  enjoy  a  splendid  prospect  of  the  mouth  of  the  Tyne 
and  the  adjacent  coasts  of  the  sea.  At  the  time  when 
I  was  there  this  prospect  presented  a  very  animated 
scene  ;  a  fresh  breeze  was  blowing  down  the  river, 
and  the  current  was  setting  outward  strongly  too,  the 
water  rippling  and  foaming  over  the  shoals  and  sand- 
bars. The  narrow  mouth  of  the  little  river,  on  which 
I  looked  down  as  upon  a  map,  was  choked  up  with  brigs 
and  schooners,  struggling  to  get  in  against  the  wind 
and  tide,  by  the  help  of  small  black  steamers  which 
were  towing  them.  Other  vessels  were  moored  along 
the  shores  to  great  red  buoys,  shaped  like  a  child's  top 
without  a  peg,  which  floated  point  downward  in  the 
water  in  great  numbers.    The  shores  of  the  sea  were 

K2 


114 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Grand  panorama.  German  Ocean. 

varied  with  high  cHffs  and  jutting  promontories,  with 
here  a  lofty  monument,  and  there  a  ruined  castle  crown- 
ing them,  picturesque  in  the  extreme.  Before  me,  on 
the  opposite  shore,  under  the  cliffs,  was  a  beautiful 
beach  of  bright  yellow  sand,  left  broad  and  smooth  by 
the  retreating  tide,  with  multitudes  of  fishing  boats 
drawn  up  upon  it.  A  great  many  others  of  larger  size 
were  at  anchor  just  in  the  offing,  and  near  them  a  fleet 
of  merchant  vessels,  waiting  for  steamers  to  tow  them 
in.  Far  and  wide  beyond  extended  the  broad  expanse 
of  the  German  Ocean. 


i:ntrance  into  Scotland.  115 

Berwick-upon-Tweed.  First-class  cars. 


LETTER  VI. 

ENTRANCE  INTO  SCOTLAND. 

August  14. 

I  ARRIVED  at  the  ancient  town  of  Berwick-upon- 
Tweed  one  evening  a  little  after  nine  o'clock,  by  the 
train  from  the  south.  I  had  been  sitting  for  three  hours 
in  my  comfortable  arm-chair  in  the  car,  admiring  'the 
extreme  verdure  and  richness  of  the  scenery  through 
which  we  had  been  passing.  Broad  dayhght  contin- 
ued till  we  arrived,  although  it  was  after  nine  o'clock. 
My  only  companion  in  the  car  was  a  gentleman,  who 
occupied  the  corner  diagonal  to  mine,  and  who  spent 
the  time  in  reading.  In  fact,  traveling  in  the  first-class 
cars  on  an  English  rail- way  is  a  very  solitary  sort  of 
grandeur.  You  have  a  luxurious  seat,  magnificent 
scenery,  and  the  satisfaction,  whatever  that  may  be,  of 
feeling  that  you  have  classed  yourself  among  the  aris- 
tocracy ;  but,  whether  your  car  is  full  or  empty,  you 
are  generally  pretty  effectually  isolated  from  all  man- 
kind. 

I  knew  nothing  about  Berwick,  or  Berrick,  as  they 
call  it,  except  that  I  had  always  understood  that,  from 
some  unaccountable  caprice  of  the  English  Constitu- 
tion, or  of  English  history,  it  did  not  belong  either  to 
England  or  Scotland,  but  stood  mysteriously  on  the 
frontiers,  independent  of  either.  I  wanted,  however, 
some  more  practical  knowledge  than  this  to  help  me 
to  find  comfortable  quarters  at  a  comfortable  inn,  com- 
ing into  a  strange  place  late  at  night.  However,  my 
experience  is,  that  in  such  cases  as  this  it  does  but  lit- 
tle good  to  inquire.    One  can  not  well  inquire  with- 


116 


SUMMER   IN  SCOTLAND. 


A  word  to  travelers.  The  station.  The  conductor. 

out  exposing  the  fact  that  he  is  ignorant  and  a  stran- 
ger ;  and  then  there  are  so  many  thousand  ways  by 
which  he  may  be  accidentally  or  intentionally  misled, 
when  he  is  known  to  be  helpless,  that  I  have  generally 
found  it  best  to  throw  myself  upon  the  current,  and 
just  be  borne  wherever  it  carries  me.  The  traveler, 
at  any  rate,  saves  by  this  plan  a  vast  amount  of  solici- 
tude, and  much  perplexity  in  balancing  contradictory 
accounts  ;  and  so  he  can  give  himself  up,  as  I  did,  the 
last  fifty  miles  of  traveling  in  England,  to  the  undis- 
turbed enjoyment  of  the  pleasures  of  his  ride,  instead 
of  worrying  himself  all  the  way  about  what  is  to  be- 
come of  him  at  the  end  of  it. 

Amid  the  noise  and  confusion  of  the  station  on  the 
English  side  of  the  Tweed,  where  the  train  had  to  stop, 
because  the  viaduct  across  the  river  is  not  completed, 
I  accordingly  had  no  means  of  guidance,  and  fell  into 
the  hands  of  an  omnibus  conductor,  w^ho  asked  me  first 
if  I  was  going  to  Edinburgh,  to  which  I  said  "  No  ;" 
and  then  if  I  was  going  to  the  Red  Lion,  to  which  I 
said  "  Yes."  I  took  it  for  granted,  by  his  asking  the 
question,  that  the  Red  Lion  was  the  place  where  such 
a  traveler  as  I  would  be  likely  to  go.  My  trunk  was 
soon  upon  the  top  of  the  ^hus,  as  he  called  it,  and  I  was 
inside,  and  we  were  oflf  before  half  the  passengers  for 
the  Edinburgh  train  had  shipped  their  luggage. 

It  w^as  now  growing  dark,  but  we  could  see  before 
us  an  old  gray  bridge  of  many  arches,  crossing  the 
river  not  far  from  -its  mouth,  and  beyond  the  bridge  a 
hill,  covered  with  the  brick  walls  and  red  tiles  of  quite 
a  large  town.  It  was  some  distance  from  the  station 
to  the  town,  and  it  was  getting  toward  ten  o'clock  by 
the  time  we  entered  the  streets,  which  looked  ancient 


ENTRANCE   INTO  SCOTLAND. 


117 


The  town.  Sti-eets.  Crowds.  Bonfires.  Tumult. 

and  somewhat  strange  to  American  eyes,  on  account 
of  the  absence  of  every  thing  like  verdure.  As  soon 
as  we  came  within  the  walls,  which  we  did  by  passing 
under  an  old  gate-way,  we  left  the  country  entirely. 
There  are  no  yards  before  the  houses,  and  no  rows  of 
trees  in  the  streets.  It  is  all  pavement,  sidewalk,  and 
wall,  with  nothing  green  for  the  eye  to  rest  upon  any 
where.  There  were,  however,  indications  of  some  un- 
usual excitement  in  the  streets.  Great  numbers  of 
men,  women,  and  children  were  assembled  here  and 
there,  and  flags  were  flying  at  some  of  the  windows. 
It  was  the  canvassing  for  an  approaching  election. 

We  came  up  into  the  center  of  the  town,  where  an 
old  church-like  looking  edifice  stood  in  the  center  of 
the  street,  and,  turning  here,  we  entered  another  street, 
where  the  indications  of  the  excitement  were  still  great- 
er. The  groups  here  and  there  were  illuminated  by 
the  flashes  of  bonfires.  At  a  little  distance  before  us 
a  great  crowd  extended  nearly  across  the  street,  but 
it  seemed  to  consist  mainly  of  women  and  children. 
They  were  thronging  around  a  door,  over  which,  from 
the  windows  above,  two  flags  were  flying,  and  their 
attention  seemed  to  be  attracted  by  something  going  on 
at  one  of  these  windows.  It  could  not  be  an  address, 
for  nothing  could  be  heard,  as  they  were  rending  the 
air  with  their  shouts  and  outcries.  The  coach  pushed 
on  until  it  got  into  the  very  midst  of  this  scene,  and  then 
stopped.  In  a  word,  the  house  with  the  flags  at  the 
window  was  the  Red  Lion. 

Just  at  this  moment,  a  bonfire,  which  I  had  seen  in 
a  side  street  close  by,  came  advancing  through  the 
crowd  in  the  shape  of  a  rolling  tar  barrel,  all  in  flames, 
but  still  retaining  its  form,  and  strength  enough  to  roll. 


118 


SUMMER  I\  SCOTLAND. 


Locomotive  bonfire.  The  Red  Lion.  English  electioneermg. 

The  men  and  boys  pushed  and  kicked  it  along  into  the 
midst  of  the  street,  and  as  it  would  every  now  and  then 
take  a  sudden  turn,  and  move  in  an  unexpected  direc- 
tion, putting  every  body  to  flight,  the  reader  can  easily 
imagine  what  shouts  and  outcries,  and  screams  of  fear 
and  of  laughter  were  added  to  the  tumult.  I  had  just 
stepped  out  of  the  omnibus,  but  the  burning  foot-ball 
came  rolling  on,  until  it  was  stopped  by  the  steps  where 
J  was  descending,  and  I  had  to  retreat  to  my  place 
again,  till  it  received  a  new  impulse  and  went  away. 

"This  is  the  Red  Lion,  sir,"  said  the  conductor. 
"  Which  is  your  luggage  ?" 

He  took  down  my  trunk,  which  was  not  very  small 
or  light,  and  put  it  upon  his  shoulder,  I  hoping  to  get 
through  the  crowd  under  cover  of  it.  Directing  him, 
therefore,  to  go  on,  I  followed,  through  a  tumult  of 
screams  and  outcries  which  might  have  terrified  bed- 
lam. We  got  through,  however,  to  the  door  of  the 
inn.  This  door  was  open.  It  led  directly  from  the 
side-walk,  with  but  one  step,  into  a  narrow  passage 
which  conducted  into  the  interior  of  the  inn.  I  press- 
ed into  this  opening,  and  as  soon  as  I  had  entered,  I 
turned  around,  and  took  my  stand  in  the  door-way,  to 
survey  the  scene. 

It  seems  that  one  way  by  which  candidates  for  mem- 
bership of  the  British  House  of  Commons  endeavor  to 
secure  their  election  is  by  throwing  half  pence,  two  or 
three  at  a  time,  out  of  an  inn  window,  to  be  scrambled 
for  by  the  children,  large  and  small,  which  such  a 
temptation  collects.  The  street  before  me,  as  I  stood 
in  the  door-way,  was  thronged  with  ragged  boys  and 
girls,  with  a  great  many  men  and  women  among  them. 
They  had  their  faces  all  turued  up  to  the  window  over 


ENTRANCE  INTO  SCOTLAND. 


119 


Scrambling  for  half  pence.  Tar  barrels.  Leaders  of  the  mob. 

my  head,  and  were  holding  their  caps  up  to  catch  the 
half  pence ;  filling  the  air,  in  the  mean  time,  with  loud 
and  shrill  cries  of"  Here  they  are  I"  "  Here  they  are !" 
"  This  way,  sir  !"  "  Here,  sir  !"  Every  now  and  then 
a  few  half  pence  would  come  down — their  descent  be- 
ing made  known  by  a  jingling  sound  upon  the  pave- 
ment— when  immediately  all  the  boys  at  the  spot  would 
plunge  together  in  a  heap,  pushing,  scrambling,  feeling 
around  the  pavement,  and  elbowing  and  crowding 
each  other  with  all  their  force.  Children  eight  or  ten 
years  of  age  would  disappear  entirely  under  the  heap, 
which  tumbled  in  upon  the  top  of  them,  emerging  again 
in  a  few  minutes,  when  the  struggle  was  over,  appar- 
ently unhurt. 

The  distribution  of  the  half  pence  at  length  ceased, 
and  the  crowd  of  children  about  the  door  was  gradu- 
ally changed  into  one  of  larger  boys  and  men,  in  a  peas- 
ant-like dress,  who  began  to  call  for  more  tar  barrels. 
They  jammed  up  about  the  door,  four  or  five  strong, 
athletic-looking  men,  who  seemed  to  be  leaders,  being 
in  front,  and  filled  the  night  air  with  shouts  and  calls. 
Whenever  the  candidate  or  his  representative  appear- 
ed at  the  window  above,  or  the  waiter  of  the  inn  at  the 
door  below,  to  know  what  they  wanted,  they  would 
shout,  a  hundred  voices  together,  "  Tor  horrills !  we 
want  more  tor  borrills  !  Give  us  some  shilluns  to  buy 
some  more  tor  borrills  !"  For  a  long  time  the  answer 
was,  "  No  more  tar  barrels  to-night ;  to-morrow  night 
you  shall  have  a  plenty."  But  the  cry  continued  as 
fierce  as  ever,  "Tor  horrills!  we  want  more  tor  bor- 
rills!" The  leaders  in  front,  with  their  arms  braced 
against  the  posts  of  the  door,  held  back  with  all  their 
force,  to  prevent  being  crowded  into  the  inn,  while 


120 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Dialogue  with  the  leaders  of  the  mob.  A  struggle. 

those  behind  pressed  forward,  and  jammed  to  and  fro, 
with  all  violence,  as  is  customary  with  mobs  on  such 
occasions.  With  the  exception  of  a  visit  now  and 
then  from  the  waiter,  I  had  the  passage-way  to  myself, 
with  a  good  opportunity  to  survey  the  scene ;  and  oc- 
casionally, when  the  storm  of  uproar  lulled  for  a  mo- 
ment, to  have  a  little  conversation  with  the  leaders  be- 
fore me.  I  asked  them  what  was  the  name  of  the  can- 
didate. At  first  they  did  not  understand  me ;  but  one 
of  them,  correcting  my  pronunciation  by  saying  con- 
didate,  they  said,  "  Oye,  oye;"  and  all  began  to  answer 
the  question,  though  they  could  not  agree  in  their  re- 
plies, for  one  corrected  the  others  until  they  had  given 
me  three  different  names.  "  What  do  you  have  to  give 
for  the  tar  barrels  ?"  "  A  shillun  a  piece."  "  And  are 
you  all  voters  ?"  "  No,  sir  ;  no,  sir,"  said  they.  "  Then 
how  does  it  help  the  candidate  to  get  votes,  giving  you 
tar  barrels  ?" 

I  got  no  answer  to  this  question,  whether  it  was  be- 
cause they  did  not  understand  the  philosophy  of  the 
English  elections  very  well,  or  because  a  new  burst  of 
vociferation  here  interrupted  the  dialogue,  I  can  not 
say.  Their  importunity,  however,  at  last  triumphed. 
A  gentleman  from  above  came  down  and  gave  them 
four  shillings.  There  was  a  great  struggle  among 
them  to  decide  who  should  be  intrusted  with  the  mon- 
ey. The  most  grasping  and  rigid  fist,  as  usual,  car- 
ried the  day,  and  away  the  leaders  went,  followed  by 
the  mob,  raising  loud  shouts  of  exultation  up  the  street. 
A  short  time  afterward,  as  I  was  coming  up  the  side- 
walk from  the  opposite  direction,  I  saw  them  return- 
ing. The  street  ascended  by  a  very  gentle  slope..  At 
the  end  the  view  was  terminated  by  the  gate- way  lead- 


ENTRANCE  INTO  SCOTLAND. 


121 


Scene  in  the  street.  Situation  of  Berwick.  Ramparts. 

ing  out  of  the  town,  which  consisted,  however,  only  of 
two  arched  passages  through  the  wall.  The  crowd 
were  pouring  through  this  opening,  and  moving  down 
the  streets  with  loud  shouts  and  outcries.  In  the  midst 
of  them,  moving  on  as  they  advanced,  there  was  a  bright 
flame,  flashing  sometimes  high  above  their  heads,  and 
sending  out  volumes  of  thick  smoke.  As  they  came 
on  I  could  see  through  the  openings  in  the  crowd  the 
form  of  the  barrel  which  they  rolled  along,  in  a  zigzag 
direction,  from  side  to  side  of  the  street.  Crowds  of 
women  and  children  stood  upon  the  side-walks,  watch- 
ing its  progress,  and  retreating  as  it  came  near  them  ; 
this  produced  some  sudden  flights,  as  the  course  which 
the  barrel  would  take  could  not  always  be  predicted 
long  beforehand.  The  rolling  light,  with  the  crowd 
who  were  urging  it  on,  disappeared  at  last  behind  the 
dark  walls  of  the  town  hall,  which  stands  in  the  street 
in  the  direction  where  they  were  going. 

Nothing  can  be  more  romantic  and  beautiful  than 
the  situation  of  the  town  of  Berwick-upon-Tweed,  as 
I  viewed  it  on  the  following  evening,  just  after  sunset. 
It  stands  on  the  northern  bank  of  the  river,  which  here 
enters  the  sea  abruptly,  and  between  bold  and  pictur- 
esque shores.  The  town  has  been  a  famous  scene  of 
contest  between  the  English  and  the  Scotch ;  and  the 
remains  of  its  old  fortifications  make  its  environs  ex- 
tremely beautiful.  The  ramparts  are  made  of  earth, 
and  faced  with,  walls  of  masonry,  both  on  the  inner  and 
outer  sides,  and  are  broad  enough  for  several  roads 
and  paths,  at  different  levels.  These  ramparts,  as  is 
usual  with  the  remains  of  ancient  fortifications  of  con- 
siderable extent,  furnish  most  delightful  promenades. 

L 


122 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Picturesque  scene.  Interesting  groups. 

The  slopes  are  all  grassed,  and  have  sometimes  gar- 
dens and  trees  upon  them.  The  dh'ection  of  the  walk, 
and  the  views  presented,  are  continually  changing,  so 
as  to  afford  a  constant  and  charming  variety  to  the  eye. 
Now  you  ascend  to  a  bastion  which  had  been  carried 
up  to  a  high  elevation,  where  you  look  down  upon 
smooth  roads  along  the  shore,  and  distant  beaches  dot- 
ted with  boats  and  men ;  and  all  around  you,  nearer, 
upon  a  picturesque  combination  of  walls,  buttresses, 
parapets,  and  green  slopes.  There  is  a  long  break- 
water extending  to  a  great  distance  into  the  sea,  on 
the  northern  side  of  the  entrance  of  the  river,  to  pro- 
tect it  from  the  northwest  winds.  There  is  a  road  upon 
the  top  of  this  break-water,  with  minute  objects,  too  dis- 
tant to  be  clearly  seen,  moving  along  upon  it.  It  has 
a  light-house  at  the  end. 

Descending  from  this  elevation,  you  have  before  you 
a  long  graveled  walk,  from  which  you  look  down  on 
one  side  into  the  city,  and  on  the  other  to  a  broad  ex- 
panse of  green  fields  waving  with  grain.  Groups  of 
children  are  playing  every  where  upon  the  grass  ;  men 
are  lying  upon  all  the  little  summits,  enjoying  the  even- 
ing air ;  parties  of  women  and  girls  are  taking  in  the 
clothes  which  they  had  spread  here  upon  the  grass  to 
dry.  As  you  pass  along,  you  find  descending  paths  by 
which  you  can  go  down  into  the  city,  or  you  can  con- 
tinue your  walk  upon  the  ramparts  till  you  come  round 
to  the  river.  The  town  being  north  of  the  river,  and 
the  ramparts  north  of  the  town,  if  we  commence  our 
promenade  as  I  did  at  the  eastern  end  of  them,  that  is, 
toward  the  sea,  we  shall  of  course  complete  our  circuit 
by  arriving  at  the  western  end,  where  the  line  of  forti- 
fication comes  to  the  river. 


ENTRANCE  INTO  SCOTLAND. 


123 


Prospect  from  the  western  bastion.  The  three  strangers. 

The  town  itself  is  on  the  side  of  a  hill,  and  the  forti- 
fications behind  it  are  higher  than  the  town ;  and  1 
found,  as  I  advanced  toward  the  west,  that  the  ram- 
parts did  not  descend  as  they  approached  the  river, 
but  were  continued  at  the  same  height  to  the  end ;  so 
that  at  last,  when  I  came  to  the  end  of  my  walk,  I 
found  myself  upon  a  broad  and  lofty  mound,  towering, 
in  embankments,  slopes,  and  walls,  a  hundred  feet  above 
the  water  of  the  river.  There  were  various  roads  and 
pathways,  and  flights  of  steps  at  different  levels,  giving 
to  the  whole  an  aspect  of  great  variety,  and  producing 
a  highly  picturesque  effect.  At  a  little  distance  up  the 
stream  was  a  steam-engine  driving  piles  for  the  viaduct 
of  the  rail-way.  It  must  have  been  nearly  a  mile  dis- 
tant, but  it  filled  the  evening  air  with  its  echoes.  There 
was  a  long  bridge  below — of  stone,  brown  and  vener- 
able— with  wagons  and  foot  passengers  going  to  and 
fro.  The  shores  in  every  direction  were  lined  with 
smooth  beaches,  with  boats  drawn  up  upon  them,  and 
children  playing  in  the  margin  of  the  water ;  and  all 
around  were  smooth,  green  hills,  with  that  peculiar 
softness  of  verdure  which  belongs  to  fields  which  have 
been  tilled  for  centuries.  It  was  now  half  past  nine 
o'clock,  and  the  twilight  was  beginning  to  fade  away. 
The  evening  air,  calm  and  still,  was  filled  with  the  hum 
of  voices  rising  all  around ;  and  now  and  then  a  dis- 
tant shout  from  the  heart  of  the  city  seemed  to  denote 
that  another  tar  barrel  was  in  motion. 

As  I  stood  upon  the  grassy  ridge  which  formed  the 
summit  of  the  mound,  there  were  two  other  gentlemen 
near,  obviously  travelers  like  myself,  who  were  like- 
wise surveying  the  scene.  English  etiquette  forbade 
either  of  us  speaking  to  the  others.    The  presumption 


124 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


English  reserve.   Reason  for  it.   Different  circumstances  of  the  two  countries. 

would  be,  in  general,  that  any  person  who  should  ad- 
dress a  casual  remark  about  the  scene  before  them  to 
a  stranger,  under  such  circumstances,  was  an  inferior 
endeavoring  to  push  himself  forward  to  the  notice  and 
acquaintance  of  a  superior,  and  the  intrusion  would  be 
repelled  accordingly.  I  do  not  say  that  it  would  al- 
ways be  so  regarded,  but  so  generally  that  they  who 
are  at  all  sensitive  in  respect  to  the  intercourse  and 
courtesies  of  life  are  safer  in  not  making  the  experi- 
ment. It  is  a  curious  example  of  the  many  minor  dif- 
ferences in  manners  between  the  two  countries,  that, 
while  in  America  it  would  be  rude  for  two  gentlemen 
to  stand  silent  when  meeting  under  such  circumstances 
as  this,  in  England  it  would  be  rude  for  them  to  speak. 

I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  finding  fault  par- 
ticularly with  the  English  character  in  this  point. 
There  is  a  necessity  for  caution  and  reserve  in  respect 
to  forming  new  acquaintances  in  all  densely  peopled 
countries,  which  does  not  exist  among  a  scattered  pop- 
ulation like  that  of  America.  A  great  many  English- 
men who  censure  the  freedom  of  manners  and  inter- 
course in  America,  and  Americans  who  complain  of  the 
reserve  and  restraint  which  they  encounter  in  England, 
do  not  sufficiently  consider  this  important  reason  for 
the  difference  in  the  usages  of  the  two  nations.  All  the 
arrangements  of  traveling,  the  customs  of  the  hotels, 
and  the  manners  and  usages  of  the  people  in  the  United 
States,  except  in  the  large  cities,  are  such  as  to  facili- 
tate your  becoming  acquainted  with  your  fellow-trav- 
elers, if  you  wish  to  do  so  ;  whereas  in  England  all 
these  things  are  such  as  to  enable  you  to  keep  most 
completely  separated  from  them.  The  reason  is  be- 
cause travelers  in  the  one  country  ivish  to  know  and  to 


ENTRANCE  INTO  SCOTLAND. 


125 


The  salmon  fishery.  Valley  of  the  Tweed. 

become  known.  They  depend  on  this  as  one  of  the 
chief  sources  of  the  interest  and  pleasure  of  the  journey. 
In  the  other  country  they  wish  to  avoid  making  new 
acquaintances.  They  have  too  many  acquaintances 
already.  They  have  been  in  a  continual  round  of  com- 
pany, perhaps,  for  months,  and  travel  for  the  sake  of 
rest  and  retirement.  There  is  thus  a  reason  for  the 
difference  which  prevails,  a  reason  justifying  it  in  the 
main,  though  undoubtedly  each  country  often  carries 
its  own  peculiarity  too  far. 

I  had  one  more  view  of  the  beautiful  scenery  of  Ber- 
wick-upon-Tweed. I  went  one  morning  across  the 
river  to  see  them  fish  for  salmon.  Berwick  is,  in  fact, 
the  headquarters  of  the  salmon  fishery  in  this  region, 
and  derives  a  great  income  from  it.  The  salmon  used 
formerly  to  frequent  several  other  rivers  here,  but  they 
have  in  great  measure  forsaken  all  but  the  Tweed. 
The  reason  is,  that  the  Tweed  and  all  its  branches  come 
from  a  most  lovely  region  of  country,  on  the  southern 
border  of  Scotland,  which  is  of  a  different  mineral 
formation,  and  has  no  beds  of  coal  under  it.  There 
can,  therefore,  be  no  manufactories,  no  mines,  no  tall 
chimneys,  no  smoke.  It  remains,  accordingly,  a  beau- 
tiful rural  region,  consisting  of  gardens  and  fields  of 
grain  along  the  streams,  and  of  pastures  for  sheep  and 
cattle  on  the  hill-sides.  The  rail-roads  avoid  it,  and 
the  old  abbeys,  and  churches,  and  castles  remain  undis- 
turbed. The  air  is  pure,  and  tourists  flock  to  it  in  great 
numbers  to  see  Melrose,  and  the  Yarrow,  and  Abbots- 
ford.  The  water,  too,  is  pure  and  sweet  in  the  river, 
and  the  salmon  go  up  and  down  as  of  old. 

The  fortifications  which  I  described  above  as  ex- 
tending on  the  land  side  of  the  town  are  continued 

L2 


126 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Steam  ferry-boat  The  beach.  Sea  view. 

along  the  bank  of  the  river,  by  a  plain  but  substantial 
wall,  a  short  distance  from  the  water.  Outside  of  this 
wall  are  the  quays  and  wharves.  In  going  to  see  the 
fishing,  I  passed  this  wall  by  a  narrow  arch-way,  and 
went  on  toward  a  rude  and  primitive  sort  of  wharf, 
where  a  little  steam  ferry-boat  was  to  take  me  across 
the  water.  The  boat  was  intended  for  foot  passengers 
alone.  It  was  very  small,  being  but  about  ten  feet 
wide.  It  had  no  cabin.  A  boy,  with  what  they  call  a 
setting-pole,  that  is,  a  long  pole  with  an  iron  point  in  the 
end,  pushed  the  stern  of  the  boat  around  in  the  shallow 
water,  so  that  I  could  step  on  board  from  some  steps 
which  descended  from  the  wharf,  for  the  tide  was  low. 
The  little  engine  began  its  work,  and  we  were  soon 
moving  swiftly  over  the  smooth  and  glassy  water,  in  a 
diagonal  direction  toward  the  opposite  shore. 

We  landed  upon  a  long,  sloping  stone  causeway,  built 
out  into  the  water ;  on  leaving  which,  I  found  myself 
upon  a  sandy  beach,  with  great  numbers  of  fishing-boats 
drawn  up  upon  it.  I  pursued  my  way  eastward,  that 
is,  toward  the  sea,  as  I  had  seen,  while  crossing  the 
water,  that  the  boats  still  engaged  in  fishing  were  in 
that  direction.  As  I  approached  the  junction  of  the 
shores  of  the  river  and  of  the  sea,  the  scenery  was  pic- 
turesque and  beautiful  in  the  extreme.  There  was  a 
broad  expanse  of  sandy  beach,  of  a  very  irregular  form, 
and  indented  by  little  bays  and  inlets  from  the  river 
and  sea ;  the  water  in  these  inlets  being  clear,  and  the 
bottom  covered  with  pebbles  and  sand.  It  was  a  warm 
summer's  morning,  and  there  were  little  groups  and 
parties  rambling  about  the  shores,  and  children  every 
where  wading  in  the  water.  The  English  coast  was 
to  be  seen  stretching  away  for  many  miles  to  the  south 


ENTRANCE  INTO  SCOTLAND. 


127 


Setting  the  nets.  Mode  of  fishing. 

ward,  with  an  outline  of  lofty  cliffs  and  promontories 
above,  and  a  beautiful  beach  below.  The  beach  was 
dotted  with  moving  figures  as  far  down  the  coast  as 
the  eye  could  distinguish  them.  On  the  river  side  the 
boats  of  the  fishermen  were  sleeping  upon  the  water, 
while  the  fishermen  themselves,  except  two  to  each  net 
to  watch,  were  sleeping  more  literally,  stretched  out  at 
length  upon  the  sand. 

It  seems  that,  in  setting  the  nets,  they  begin  at  the 
shore,,  strike  out  a  little  way  into  the  water,  and  then 
turning  down  the  stream  (I  mean  the  stream  of  the  tide, 
whichever  way  it  may  be  flowing),  they  carry  the  net 
along  for  the  rest  of  its  length  parallel  with  the  shore. 
Of  course,  the  lower  end  of  it  is  at  a  distance  from  the 
shore,  the  opening  thus  left  being  intended  to  admit 
the  fish.  The  net  being  thus  arranged,  two  boats  are 
stationed  outside  of  it,  at  a  distance  from  each  other, 
and  the  upper  edge  of  the  net  is  held  by  a  man  in  the 
bows  of  each  boat,  raising  it  for  this  purpose,  at  these 
points,  a  little  out  of  the  water;  so  that  if  any  fish  come 
into  the  net  they  can  feel  them,  and  give  the  alarm. 
There  is  a  rope  attached  to  the  lower  end  of  the  net, 
by  which  it  is  to  be  drawn  in  to  the  shore  when  fish  are 
felt.  The  net  is  loaded  at  the  lower  edge  by  leaden 
sinkers,  and  it  has  cork  floats  upon  its  upper  edge  ;  by 
this  apparatus  it  is  kept  in  a  perpendicular  position  in 
the  water.  The  cork  floats  lie  along  upon  the  surface 
of  the  water  like  a  row  of  little  blocks,  and  indicate  to 
the  observer  on  shore  the  position  of  the  net. 

The  men  had  been  fishing  nearly  all  night,  and  all 
except  the  two  on  the  boats  at  each  net  were  lying, 
tired  and  sleepy,  on  the  sand.  In  fact,  while  the  men 
were  waiting  for  fish  to  come  to  their  net,  the  whole 


128 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Scene  of  quiet  and  repose.  Drawing  in  the  neta. 

picture  was  one  of  stillness  and  repose.  The  water 
was  smooth  as  glass.  The  little  groups  wandering 
about  upon  the  beaches  were  too  remote  to  be  heard, 
or  their  voices  came  to  the  ear  in  a  very  subdued  and 
softened  tone.  There  was  no  surf  on  the  seaward 
beaches,  but  only  a  very  gentle  dash  of  water  now  and 
then  from  the  swell.  Across  the  river  we  had  the 
town  of  Berwick,  with  all  its  walls,  and  fortifications, 
and  towers,  extremely  varied  in  their  aspects,  and  re- 
lieved here  and  there  by  masses  of  foliage  behind  them 
in  the  city,  showing  that  my  statement  that  there  is 
nothing  green  within  the  walls  must  be  received  with 
some  qualification.  To  the  west  of  the  town  the  soft 
and  smooth  green  hills  rose  above  the  highest  bastions, 
and  to  the  east  was  the  long  mole,  or  pier,  extending 
for  half  a  mile  into  the  sea,  and  terminated  by  the  light- 
house erected  at  the  further  end. 

While  seated  on  a  stone  upon  the  beach,  admiring 
this  scene,  you  would  suddenly  hear  a  cry  from  one 
of  the  fishermen  standing  in  the  boats.  The  party  of 
sleepers  would  instantly  spring  to  their  feet,  and  the 
boys  among  them,  seizing  stones  from  the  beach,  would 
throw  them  into  the  water  at  the  place  between  the 
lower  end  of  the  net  and  the  shore,  to  frighten  the  fish 
from  any  attempt  to  escape  by  the  way  that  they  had 
entered.  In  the  mean  time,  the  men,  putting  the  line 
over  their  shoulders,  walked  laboriously  up  the  sandy 
slope,  to  draw  the  net  in.  The  result  would  be  some- 
times a  few  salmon,  and  sometimes  nothing  at  all.  The 
net  would  then  be  stacked  up  again  upon  the  stern  of 
the  boat  in  such  a  manner  that,  in  rowing  along  upon 
the  water  where  they  wished  to  set  it,  it  would  draw 
itself  oflf  as  the  boat  proceeded,  and  thus  deposit  itsell 


ENTRANCE  INTO  SCOTLAND. 


129 


Departure  for  Edinburgh.  Rail-way  along  the  cliffg.  Views. 

properly  in  the  water  for  a  new  trial.  The  fishermen 
would  then  return  again  to  their  positions  of  repose  upon 
the  sand,  as  before. 

After  spending  a  day  or  two  thus  in  Berwick-upon- 
Tweed,  I  set  out  for  Edinburgh.  The  shores  of  the 
sea,  north  of  Berwick,  are  bold  and  picturesque,  and 
the  great  Northern  rail -way  runs  very  near  to  them. 
After  passing  for  a  short  distance  through  a  beautiful 
rural  district,  we  come  out  at  once  to  a  splendid  view 
of  the  sea,  from  the  summit  of  a  range  of  cliffs  a  hund- 
red feet  high.  These  chfFs  are  the  termination,  toward 
the  sea,  of  a  beautiful  region  of  elevated  but  level  land, 
lying  north  of  the  Tweed,  and  called  The  Merse.  It 
is  extremely  fertile,  and  is  cultivated  every  where  like 
a  garden.  It  continues  its  smooth  and  beautiful  sur- 
face to  the  sea,  where  it  is  bounded  by  the  cliffs,  which 
form  the  shore.  Deep  chasms  and  ravines  indent  these 
clifTs,  and  promontories  project  from  them,  so  as  to  give 
every  variety  to  their  forms ;  and  the  rail-way  passes 
along  the  shore  so  near  that  it  would  seem  to  have 
been  the  special  design  of  the  engineer  to  secure  to  the 
travelers  all  the  magnificence  of  the  view.  From  our 
seats  in  the  cars  we  have  the  smooth  and  richly-culti- 
vated fields  on  one  side,  waving  with  grass  or  grain  ; 
and  on  the  other  we  look  down  upon  the  ocean,  lying 
at  a  great  depth  below  us,  and  spreading  away  to  a 
very  distant  horizon.  The  road  is  made  so  near  the 
brink  of  the  cliffs  as  just  to  go  clear  of  the  chasms  and 
indentations  which  we  look  down  into  as  we  whirl  rap- 
idly by.  At  one  moment  we  see  a  narrow  cove,  far 
below,  with  a  boat  drawn  up  upon  a  sandy  beach ;  a 
moment  afterward  we  pass  a  rugged  and  precipitous 


130 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Imposing  scenes.  Scotland. 

chasm,  with  the  surf  dashing  upon  the  rocks  at  the  en- 
trance of  it.  Then,  perhaps,  we  come  into  the  view 
of  a  wider  bay,  with  a  winding  shore  and  beach,  term- 
inated at  the  further  end  by  a  bold,  rocky  chfF,  with 
sea-birds  saiHng  about  it.  The  great  elevation  from 
which  we  looked  down  upon  these  scenes  as  we  went 
on  our  journey,  and  the  rapid  motion  by  which  we  flew 
along,  made  the  effect  extremely  imposing.  We  soon 
left  Berwick  far  behind  us,  and  found  that  we  had  fully 
and  fairly  entered  Scotland. 


Arthur's  seat. 


131 


Edinburgh,  Prince's-street.  The  valley. 


LETTER  VII. 
Arthur's  seat  at  Edinburgh. 

August  15. 

It  is  less  difficult  to  form  some  distinct  conception  of 
Edinburgh  than  of  most  other  cities,  without  having 
seen  it,  on  account  of  its  being  so  strongly  marked  in 
position  and  character.  You  must,  at  the  outset,  im- 
agine a  modern-built,  handsome  city,  on  level  ground 
on  one  side,  and  an  ancient  and  venerable  one  on  a 
long  and  elevated  ridge  on  the  other,  with  a  deep  glen 
or  valley  between  them,  and  high  hills  and  mountains 
around.  The  new  town  is  on  the  north ;  the  old 
town  toward  the  south.  The  valley,  of  course,  runs 
nearly  east  and  west. 

Of  course,  the  southernmost  street  of  the  new  town 
runs  along  on  the  brink  of  the  valley.  This  is  Prince's- 
street,  the  great  street  in  Edinburgh,  and,  on  many  ac- 
counts, one  of  the  most  picturesque  and  striking  streets 
in  the  world.  On  one  side  of  it  are  handsome  shops, 
hotels,  and  public  edifices,  constructed  of  stone,  and  in 
the  most  substantial  and  elegant  manner  ;  on  the  other 
side  is  a  broad  side-walk,  with  a  lofty  iron  palisade,  sep- 
arating it  from  the  valley. 

The  valley  itself  presents  a  very  picturesque  appear- 
ance, the  view  being  varied  by  the  several  structures 
connected  with  it,  or  rising  out  of  it.  At  the  east  end 
is  a  bridge  passing  over  it,  and  connecting  the  new 
town  with  the  old.  This  bridge,  however,  is  nearly 
concealed  from  view,  being  almost  surrounded  and  cov- 
ered with  stately  edifices,  which  form  a  sort  of  archi- 
tectural isthmus,  connecting  the  two  masses  of  build 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Scott's  monument.  Imposing  edifices.  The  old  town. 

ing  on  the  two  sides  of  the  glen.  Not  very  far  from 
the  bridge,  proceeding  westward,  we  come  to  the 
splendid  monument  erected  to  the  memory  of  Walter 
Scott,  which  stands  upon  the  edge  of  the  valley,  on  a 
level  with  Prince's-street,  on  a  foundation  raised  for 
the  purpose.  There  are  one  or  two  other  imposing 
public  edifices  and  churches,  in  similar  positions  along 
the  open  side  of  Prince's-street,  which  give  great  effect 
to  the  view,  without,  however,  at  all  shutting  it  in.  Be- 
tween these  buildings  we  look  down  to  the  great  pub- 
lic gardens,  and  to  courts,  and  streets,  and  rail- way  sta- 
tions, which  fill  the  declivities  and  bottom  of  the  glen, 
and  over  them  all  to  the  ancient  buildings  of  the  old 
town,  on  the  long  ridge  beyond.  They  look  like  a 
range  of  lofty  cliffs,  cut  perpendicularly  into  chasms 
and  square  projections,  and,  when  lighted  up  at  night, 
the  effect  from  Prince's-street  is  imposing  in  the  ex- 
treme. 

This  long  ridge,  thus  covered  with  ancient  and  lofty 
edifices,  is  not  level  upon  the  top — I  mean  in  the  di- 
rection of  its  length.  It  commences  at  the  eastern  end, 
on  a  plain,  and  rises  gradually  until  it  comes  to  the 
point  where  the  bridge  from  the  new  town  crosses  to 
it,  which  may  be  about  the  middle  of  its  length.  From 
this  point  it  continues  to  rise,  and  here  it  first  comes 
into  view  from  Prince's-street.  As  it  passes  along  par- 
allel to  Prince's-street,  the  ridge  becomes  higher  and 
higher,  and  its  sides  steeper  and  steeper,  until  finally 
it  terminates  abruptly  in  a  mass  of  perpendicular  prec- 
ipices, with  Edinburgh  Castle  on  the  top.  Of  course, 
standing  any  where  in  Prince's-street,  we  have  a  splen- 
did panorama  in  view.  We  have  the  elegant  range  of 
buildings,  with  spires  and  monumental  columns  tower- 


Arthur's  seat. 


133 


Grand  panorama.  Calton  Hill.  Salisbiiry  Crags. 

ing  above  them,  behind  us ;  then  we  have  the  valley 
before  us,  with  the  few  detached  public  edifices  on  the 
margin  of  it,  and  the  imposing  range  of  antique  struc- 
tures on  the  ridge  beyond,  terminated  at  one  end  by 
the  bridge,  and  at  the  other  by  the  long  walls  and  the 
lofty  towers  and  battlements  of  the  castle. 

The  reader,  by  attentively  considering  the  foregoing 
description,  will  acquire,  in  some  respects,  a  more  use- 
ful practical  idea  of  the  leading  features  of  Edinburgh, 
than  by  merely  inspecting  a  map ;  because  a  map  can 
give  no  idea  of  differences  of  level,  on  which,  in  the 
case  of  such  a  city  as  Edinburgh,  every  thing  depends. 
These  differences  of  level  give  to  all  the  views  which 
you  have,  in  rambling  about  the  city,  the  most  striking 
and  picturesque  effect.  And  then,  besides  these  remark- 
able features,  there  are  hills  just  out  of  the  town,  from 
which  you  obtain  very  extended  and  diversified  pros- 
pects. One  is  called  the  Calton  Hill.  It  rises  at  one 
end  of  Prince's-street,  namely,  the  eastern  end.  Its 
lower  declivities  are  ornamented  with  gardens  and  ter- 
races, and  ranges  of  beautiful  buildings,  and  its  summit 
is  covered  with  monuments  of  a  great  variety  of  form 
and  structure,  which  are,  of  course,  to  be  seen  from  all 
parts  of  Prince's-street,  terminating  the  view  in  the  di- 
rection in  which  they  lie.  The  other  hill  is  a  vast  con- 
geries of  precipices,  glens,  and  summits,  which  lies  be- 
yond the  old  town,  though  it  can  be  seen  from  most 
parts  of  Prince's-street,  tow^ering  above  the  lofty  hous- 
es. The  highest  summit  is  called  Arthur's  Seat.  A 
range  of  cliffs,  less  elevated,  facing  the  city,  is  called 
the  Salisbury  Crags  ;  and  along  at  the  foot  of  the  crags, 
though  still  at  a  great  elevation  above  the  surrounding 
country,  is  a  broad  gravel-walk,  often  called  Scott's 
M 


134 


A  walk. 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


View  from  the  bridge. 


Walk,  because  it  was  one  of  Sir  Walter's  favorite 
promenades. 

But  I  shall  probably  better  succeed  in  giving  the 
reader  an  idea  of  this  scenery  by  asking  him  to  accom- 
pany me  on  an  excursion,  and  describing  such  scenes 
and  incidents  as  really  occurred  to  myself  in  my  ram- 
bles. I  set  out,  then,  one  evening,  with  a  companion, 
from  my  hotel  in  Prince's-street,  and  went  eastward 
along  the  street,  with  the  monuments  of  Calton  Hill  be- 
fore me  at  the  extremity  of  it.  After  proceeding  a  few 
steps  in  this  direction,  we  came  to  the  bridge,  which 
here  turns  off  toward  the  old  town.  Coaches  were 
standing  at  the  corners  of  the  streets,  with  such  names 
as  Melrose,  Abbottsford,  Stirling,  and  Loch  Lomond 
upon  them,  making  us  feel  at  every  step  that  we  were 
really  in  the  heart  of  Scotland.  At  the  shop  windows 
were  countless  contrivances  of  jewelry  and  fancy  box- 
es, with  the  tartan  plaid  imitated  in  enamel  or  lacquered- 
work,  and  shawls  in  great  variety,  each  ticketed  with 
the  name  of  the  clan  whose  colors  it  bore.  Every 
thing  spoke  of  Scotland. 

At  last  we  came  upon  the  bridge.  Looking  down 
over  the  parapet,  we  could  see  streets,  markets,  and 
rail-way  lines  far  below.  On  the  right,  Prince's-street 
is  seen  extending  westward,  until  it  is  lost  in  the  dis- 
tance ;  and  on  the  left  the  clifF-like  range  of  lofty  hous- 
es in  the  old  town,  rising  higher  and  higher  toward  the 
west,  until  they  terminate  in  the  towers  and  battlements 
of  the  castle. 

The  reader  will  recollect  that  the  crest  of  the  ridge 
on  which  the  old  town  is  chiefly  built  is  not  level,  but 
ascends  gradually  from  the  east  until  we  reach  the 
castle,  where  it  terminates  in  abrupt  precipices.  Now 


Arthur's  seat. 


135 


High-street  Canongate.  Marketday. 

there  lies  along  this  crest  a  street,  which  is,  in  fact,  the 
principal  one  in  the  old  town.  From  it  narrow  lanes, 
and  passages,  and  stair- ways  lead  down  the  slopes  on 
each  side  to  the  valleys.  This  street  is  called  the 
High  Street  at  the  upper  part,  and  the  Canongate  at 
the  lower.  It  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  thorough- 
fares in  Europe.  The  buildings  bordering  it  are  very 
lofty,  and  as  they  extend  down  the  slopes  on  each  side, 
being  accessible  there  by  the  narrow  passages  and 
staif-ways  I  have  already  referred  to,  and  as  they  are 
all  densely  peopled,  and,  moreover,  as  all  the  thousands 
of  men,  women,  and  children  who  occupy  them  seem 
to  pour  into  the  High  Street  for  a  lounge  and  prome- 
nade every  pleasant  evening,  the  spectacle  which 
strikes  the  eye  of  the  traveler,  when  he  first  comes 
into  it  from  Bridge-street,  is  truly  astonishing.  The 
evening  of  our  walk  it  was  fuller  than  usual,  it  having 
been  market-day,  and  the  whole  space  between  the 
walls  of  the  houses  on  each  side,  both  pavement  and 
side-walk,  was  one  dense  mass  of  human  beings,  all  in 
the  very  humblest  rank  of  life,  and  exhibiting  every 
possible  phase  of  raggedness  and  poverty,  and  yet  all 
occupied,  interested,  and  apparently  happy.  The  chil- 
dren were  ragged  and  dirty  in  the  extreme,  but  alto- 
gether too  plump  and  merry  to  be  pitied. 

We  might  have  turned  up  the  street  toward  the  cas- 
tle, but  the  way  to  Arthur's  Seat  was  in  the  other  di- 
rection, and  led  us  down  the  street,  which  became  more 
narrow,  more  ancient  and  blackened  by  time,  and  low- 
er and  more  degraded  in  population  as  we  descended. 
At  last,  however,  as  we  approached  the  end,  the  scene 
seemed  to  change  again.  The  crowds  of  people  di- 
minished.   The  houses,  though  they  continued  to  look 


136 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


A  change  in  the  scene.  Holyrood.  Rural  picture. 

old  and  venerable,  were  more  neat.  The  streets  and 
passages  seemed  to  have  a  more  quiet  air,  and  began, 
in  fact,  to  look  almost  deserted,  when  suddenly,  at  a 
little  turn  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  we  came  to  a  broad, 
level,  and  paved  area,  on  the  opposite  side  of  which  a 
spacious  building  rose  before  us.  It  had  round  towers 
at  the  corners,  and  a  broad  architectural  front,  with  a 
soldier  in  uniform  walking  to  and  fro  before  a  great 
gate-way  in  the  middle.  It  was  the  palace  of  Holy- 
rood  House,  the  residence  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots. 

In  fact,  the  whole  scene  was  now  entirely  changed. 
We  had  before  us,  and  around  us  on  every  side,  an 
enchanting  picture  of  rural  beauty.  The  palace  is  sit- 
uated in  the  midst  of  parks,  intersected  in  every  direc- 
tion by  gravel-walks,  and  ornamented  with  groves  of 
trees.  Immediately  in  the  rear  of  the  palace  is  a  beau- 
tiful garden,  inclosed  with  a  high  iron  palisade.  With- 
in this  garden  are  the  ruins  of  the  old  abbey,  now  roof- 
less and  falling.  Hundreds  were  walking  to  and  fro 
along  the  gravel-walks,  or  reclining  upon  the  grass, 
giving  to  the  whole  scene  an  air  of  great  animation. 

But  the  most  imposing  part  of  the  view,  after  all,  was 
the  mountain  mass  which  rose  from  the  plain  at  a  little 
distance.  Its  slopes  were  beautifully  green.  Scott's 
Walk  could  be  traced  for  a  long  distance  under  the 
crags,  with  parties  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  here  and 
there  ascending  and  descending.  Above  this  walk 
were  the  cliffs,  and  the  lofty  peak,  called  Arthur's  Seat, 
towered  above  the  whole.  Between  them  were  vales 
and  dells,  and  grassy  slopes,  of  the  softest  and  most 
beautiful  green,  dotted  every  where  with  figures,  sit- 
ting, walking,  climbing — in  a  word,  in  every  attitude 
of  motion  and  of  repose. 


ARTHUR*S  SEAT. 


137 


Choice  of  routes.     Salisbury  Crags,     Arthur's  Seat.     St.  Anthony's  Chapel. 

There  is  a  great  variety  of  route  offered  to  the  choice 
of  the  promenader  in  looking  up  the  ascents  before  him. 
He  can  take  Scott's  Walk,  and  have  a  good  road,  and 
a  regular,  though  steep  ascent ;  and  he  will  enjoy,  from 
the  higher  parts  of  the  walk,  a  magnificent  prospect  of 
the  city  and  of  the  surrounding  country  in  one  direction. 
Of  course,  his  view  in  the  other  will  be  cut  off  by  the 
crags  which  tower  perpendicularly  behind  him.  Or, 
by  going  a  little  further  back,  and  taking  a  more  cir- 
cuitous and  rougher  path,  he  may  mount  to  the  crest 
of  these  crags,  and  look  down  upon  the  smooth  walk, 
a  hundred  feet  below  him.  In  this  case  his  view  will 
be  far  more  extended,  but  it  will  not  be  entirely  unob- 
structed, as  Arthur's  Seat  rises  higher  still  further  be- 
hind, though  there  is  a  broad  and  deep  valley  between. 
Or,  thirdly,  he  may  undertake  to  scale  Arthur's  Seat 
itself,  which  is  hard  climbing,  but  there  is  presented 
from  its  rocky  summit  an  entirely  unobstructed  view.* 

In  one  part  of  these  hills,  a  little  out  of  either  of  the 
routes  I  have  described,  is  an  old  ruin  called  St.  An- 
thony's Chapel,  which  the  visitors  to  these  scenes  gen- 
erally turn  aside  to  see.  There  is  also,  in  the  path-way 
leading  to  Arthur's  Seat,  near  this  chapel,  a  little  spring, 
where  three  or  four  boys  and  girls  usually  stand  with 
tin  mugs,  and  come  running  down  the  hill  with  their 
mugs  full  of  water,  to  offer  to  any  parties  whom  they 
see  approaching  having  the  air  of  strangers.  For  this 
service  they  expect  a  penny. 

I  went  to  this  spring  one  evening  when  these  children 
were  gone.  There  was  a  large,  roundish  stone,  such 
as  the  geologists  call  a  houlder,  in  the  path,  and  below 


*  There  is  a  view  of  the  scenery  here  described  in  the  back-ground  of  the 
engraving  of  Holyrood,  in  tlie  next  letter. 

M2 


138 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  spring.  Talking  Scotch.  Wild  scene. 

it  a  smaller,  flattish  stone,  in  which  a  small  bowl-shaped 
reservoir  had  been  hewn  to  receive  and  hold  the  water. 
Another  stone,  a  little  upon  one  side,  was  of  the  right 
size,  and  in  the  right  place,  to  serve  for  a  rude  seat.  A 
path-way  branched  off  from  the  spring  to  the  ruins  of 
the  chapel,  and  another,  better  worn,  led  up  a  sort  of 
ravine,  in  the  direction  of  Arthur's  Seat.  On  all  the 
paths,  and  upon  every  rock  and  cliff  around,  figures 
could  be  seen  of  persons  walking,  climbing,  or  at  rest, 
enjoying  the  evening  air. 

Sometimes  you  arrive  here  later  in  the  evening,  when 
the  children  who  supply  the  visitors  have  gone.  You 
then  meet  others,  a  barefooted  old  woman,  perhaps, 
from  the  High  Street,  or  a  child  from  the  Canongate, 
who  have  come  for  water  to  carry  home.  The  child 
brings  two  tin  pails,  and  dips  up  the  water  from  the 
reservoir  with  the  covers.  She  talks  broad  Scotch  to 
you,  in  answer  to  your  questions.  You  tell  her  it  is  a 
great  way  for  her  to  come  for  water,  and  she  replies, 
"Ay,  sir;  and  I  ha'  been  here  ance  afore  the  day." 
She  lives,  she  says,  "just  yonder  in  the  Canongate, 
with  her  grandmither  and  goes  to  school,  where  she 
learns  "  to  read  and  count."  She  will  give  you  a  drink 
of  the  water  from  her  tin  cover,  and  thank  you  very 
cordially  if  you  give  her  a  ha'penny  in  return. 

In  ascending  from  this  point,  we  see  before  us  a  wild 
scene  of  hills  and  glens,  with  rocky  summits  and  ranges 
of  cliffs  her,e  and  there,  giving  a  very  varied  and  pic- 
turesque expression  to  the  whole.  The  views  in  every 
direction  among  these  glens  are  very  striking  to  Amer- 
ican eyes,  the  valleys  and  slopes  are  so  exceedingly 
smooth  and  green.  Wild  territory  like  this  in  our 
country  is  wooded,  and  covered  with  loose  stones,  and 


Arthur's  seat. 


139 


Green  valleys  and  slopes.  Hard  climbing. 

rough  and  ragged  irregularities.  But  these  declivities 
have  been  in  the  possession  of  man  for  a  thousand 
years,  and  have  become  as  smooth,  at  least  in  appear- 
ance, as  seen  from  the  various  eminences,  as  a  lav^n. 
Sheep  paths  traverse  them  in  all  directions,  enticing 
adventurous  climbers  into  various  situations  of  diffi- 
culty and  danger,  where  sometimes  it  is  equally  im- 
practicable to  advance  or  retreat.  I  attempted  the  as- 
cent one  evening  at  sunset  with  a  lady,  who,  having 
just  returned  from  Switzerland  and  Italy,  where  she 
had  been  scaling  the  Alps  and  Vesuvius,  was  a  good 
climber.  We  w^ould  attempt  a  path  ascending  diag- 
onally up  a  very  steep  slope,  two  or  three  hundred  feet 
high.  We  could  go  on  very  easily  until  we  had  at- 
tained an  elevation  of  a  few  hundred  feet,  but  after 
that,  as  we  proceeded,  the  depth  below  us  began  to  look 
very  profound.  We  had  only  a  very  narrow  path, 
growing,  too,  continually  narrower  as  we  advanced. 
The  slope  below  us,  down  which  we  every  moment 
were  threatened  with  sliding,  had  nothing  to  intercept 
our  descent  to  the  bottom  of  the  valley.  Above  us  the 
same  slope  extended  for  the  same  distance,  until  it  was 
terminated  by  a  range  of  ragged  cliffs,  which  frowned 
upon  us  very  sternly,  and  seemed  to  make  it  very 
doubtful  whether  we  could  find  our  way  out  to  the  top, 
if  we  should  succeed  in  gaining  the  summit  of  the  slope. 
After  pausing  here  in  uncertainty  for  a  few  moments, 
we  would  retrace  our  steps  until  we  had  found  some 
place  of  greater  security,  and  then,  diverging  to  some 
new  point  of  departure,  we  would  make  a  new  attempt 
in  a  different  direction.  All  this  time  the  whole  scene 
around  us  was  dotted  with  other  parties  making  similar 
attempts.    We  could  see  them  at  a  great  distance, 


140 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  bagpipes.  The  blue  bell.  The  mountain  daisy. 

slowly  creeping  along  a  path,  or  scrambling  down 
what  seemed  to  us  a  perpendicular  precipice,  or  sitting 
on  the  rocks  to  rest  from  their  previous  toil.  During 
all  this  time  the  evening  air  was  filled  with  distant  mar- 
tial music.  It  came  to  us  from  a  piper  across  the 
widest  valley  ;  but  the  question  which,  of  several  black 
points  moving  slowly  along  the  grass  there,  was  the 
piper,  the  distance  was  too  great  for  us  to  determine. 
The  music  of  the  Scotch  bagpipes  is  too  loud  and  me- 
tallic to  be  pleasant  when  near,  but  when  heard  in  the 
evening,  from  a  distance,  across  a  wide  glen,  especially 
if  it  be  a  Scottish  glen,  the  effect  is  very  agreeable. 

After  various  attempts  of  the  kind  I  have  described, 
in  paths  of  our  own  selection,  we  at  length  so  far  suc- 
ceeded as  to  obtain  the  main  route  half  way  up  to  the 
summit.  This  route,  which  we  now  thought  it  most 
prudent  to  follow,  led  us  around  upon  the  back  side  of 
the  principal  hill,  where  we  had  views  of  new  glens, 
new  precipices,  and  new  vistas  of  the  cultivated  low- 
lands and  seas  far  beneath  us.  There  were  plenty  of 
wild  flowers.  Every  crag  was  ornamented  with  the 
"  Blue  Bells  of  Scotland."  There  was  a  small,  deli- 
cate daisy  too,  which  I  did  not  pay  particular  attention 
to  at  the  time,  but  which  was  brought  to  my  recollec- 
tion the  next  day  under  these  circumstances :  I  went, 
in  company  with  a  gentleman  of  Boston,  into  the  libra- 
ry-room of  the  University,  a  spacious  and  nnagnificent 
hall,  containing  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  vol- 
umes. At  the  upper  end  was  Flaxman's  statue  of 
Burns.  It  was  a  beautiful  embodiment  of  Burns's  mind 
and  character :  the  rustic  expression  of  the  plow-boy 
in  the  dress,  and  all  the  simplicity,  beauty,  and  soul  of 
the  poet  in  the  countenance.    As  we  took  our  seats  in 


Arthur's  seat. 


141 


Statue  of  Bums,  His  lines  to  the  mountain  daisy. 

chairs,  which  the  attendant  placed  for  us  at  the  best 
points  of  view,  my  companion,  looking  at  the  express- 
ive form  before  me,  asked  me  if  I  remembered  Burns's 
lines  to  the  mountain  daisy  ;  I  did  not,  though  I  im- 
mediately remembered  the  mountain  daisy  itself,  which 
I  had  seen  upon  these  hills  the  day  before.  He  began 
to  repeat  to  me  the  following  lines,  very  characteristic 
of  Burns,  and  admirably  in  keeping  with  the  expression 
of  the  statue.  I  listened  to  them  with  a  mingled  feel- 
ing of  interest  in  their  beauty,  and  of  surprise  that  a 
mind  which  had  been  so  engrossed,  during  a  long  life, 
with  public  duties  and  cares  of  a  high  and  responsible 
character,  could  still  have  room  for  such  kind  of  treas- 
ures as  this  among  its  stores.  To  perceive  the  force 
and  beauty  of  the  lines,  they  must  be  read  aloud,  and 
the  words  enunciated  in  the  most  distinct  and  delib- 
erate manner. 

TO  A  MOUNTAIN  DAISY. 
Wee,  modest,  crimson  tipped  flower, 
Thou'st  met  me  in  an  evil  hour, 
For  I  maun  crush  amang  the  stoure* 

Thy  slender  stem : 
To  spare  thee  now  is  past  my  pow'r, 

My  bonnie  gem. 

Cauld  blew  the  bitter-biting  north 
Upon  thy  early,  humble  birth ; 
Yet  cheerfully  thou  glintedt  forth 

Amid  the  storm,. 
Scarce  rear'd  above  thy  parent  earth 

Thy  tender  form. 

The  flaunting  flow'rs  our  gardens  yield. 
High  sheltering  woods  and  wa's  maun  shield. 
But  thou  beneath  the  random  bieldf 

0'  clod  or  stane, 
Adorns  the  histie$  stibble-Jield, 

Unseen,  alane. 


Stoure,  duet  in  motion. 


t  Glinted,  peeped. 


i  Bield,  shelter. 


<§  Histie,  dry. 


142 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Burns's  lines  to  the  mountain  daisy.  Summit  of  the  bilL 

There  in  thy  scanty  mantle  clad, 
Thy  snawy  bosom  sunward  spread, 
Thou  lifts  thy  unassuming  head 

In  humble  guise ; 
But  now  the  share  uptears  thy  bed. 

And  low  thou  lies. 
Such  is  the  fate  of  artless  maid, 
Sweet  flowret  of  the  i-ural  shade! 
By  love's  simplicity  betrayed, 

And  guileless  trust ; 
Till  she,  like  thee,  all  soil'd  is  laid 

Low  i'  the  dust. 
Such  is  the  fate  of  simple  bard, 
On  life's  rough  ocean  luckless  starred ! 
Unskillful  he  to  note  the  card* 

Of  prudent  lore. 
The  billows  rage,  and  gales  blow  hard, 

And  whelm  him  o'er. 

Such  fate  of  svffering  worth  is  giv'n, 

Who  long  with  wants  and  woes  has  striv'u, 

By  human  pride  or  cunning  driv'n 

To  mis'ry's  brink; 
Till  wrenched  of  every  stay  but  Heav'n, 

He,  ruin'd,  sink ! 
Even  thou  who  moum'st  the  Daisy's  fate, 
That  fate  is  thine — no  distant  date  ; 
Stern  ruin's  plowshare  drives,  elate. 

Full  on  thy  bloom, 
Till,  crushed  beneath  the  furrow's  weight, 

Shall  be  thy  doom. 

But  to  return  to  our  excursion.  The  summit  of  the 
hill  is  a  conical  peak,  with  steep  grass  slopes  on  one 
side,  and  rocky  precipices,  nearly  perpendicular,  on  the 
other.  The  road  leads  up  on  the  grassy  side  by  means 
of  rude  steps,  worn,  apparently,  by  the  feet  of  a  con- 
tinued train  of  visitors.  At  the  top  is  a  small  level  area, 
blackened  by  the  effects  of  a  great  bonfire  made  here 
several  years  ago,  to  celebrate  the  landing  of  Victoria 


*  Card. — Referring  to  the  compass  card,  on  which  the  points  of  the  compass  ai'e 
marked  to  guide  the  helmsman. 


Arthur's  seat. 


143 


Jeanie  Deans's  cottage.  Libberton. 

on  a  visit  to  Scotland.  Around  this  area  are  several 
crests  of  rock,  rising  a  few  feet  above  it,  on  the  high- 
est of  which  a  small  post  is  set,  supported  by  iron  bra- 
ces. We  took  our  seats  on  the  brow  of  the  hill,  where 
there  was  a  little  shelter  from  the  wind,  which,  as  usual 
on  such  peaks,  blew  strong  and  cool.  After  a  few  mo- 
ments a  lad  approached  us,  and,  in  a  very  respectful 
manner,  said,  pointing  down  to  the  plain  below, 

"  Wad  the  ladie  like  to  see  Jeanie  Deans's  cottage, 
which  is  described  in  Walter  Scott's  novel  of  the  Heart 
of  Mid  Lothian  ?  Yon  is  it — the  double  cottage,  by  the 
roadside,  with  the  tiled  roof" 

We  looked  in  the  direction  he  indicated.  There  were 
several  smooth  gravel-roads  winding  around  the  base 
of  the  mountain,  parallel  to  each  other,  and  with  soft 
green  slopes  between  them.  At  one  place  among  these 
roads  we  saw  a  simple  cottage,  or,  rather,  two  cot- 
tages together,  with  red  tiles  upon  the  roof,  and  a 
small,  square  garden,  inclosed  by  a  hedge,  behind  it ; 
that  is,  behind  it  in  respect  to  the  road,  which  was  be- 
yond the  cottage,  but  on  this  side  of  it  as  it  respected  us. 

"And  there,"  said  he,  pointing  to  a  Httle  group  of 
buildings  further  along  the  road,  and  a  little  more  to- 
ward the  city,  "  is  the  house  of  the  Laird  of  Dumbie 
Dykes.  The  village  yonder" — here  he  pointed  in  an 
opposite  direction,  to  a  place  a  mile  or  two  distant  in 
the  country,  the  surface  of  which  all  appeared,  from 
this  point,  like  a  most  rich  and  fertile  plain,  divided  by 
hedgerows  and  lines  of  plantation,  and  sprinkled  every 
where  with  hamlets,  and  villages,  and  beautiful  coun- 
try seats — "  Yon  village,"  said  he,  "  with  the  old  square 
tower  among  the  trees,  is  Libberton,  where  Reuben 
Butler  lived,  who  was  engaged  to  be  married  to  Jean 


144 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Interesting  localities.  Scotch  guides. 

ie."  Then,  turning  to  the  city,  which  lay  spread  out, 
or  rather  piled  up,  before  us,  "  The  old  Tolbooth,"  he 
continued,  "  or  the  Heart  of  Mid  Lothian,  as  it  was 
called,  was  there,  near  that  low  steeple  in  the  High 
Street.  This  broad  water  at  the  north  is  the  Frith  of 
Forth.  The  large  island  in  the  middle  of  it  is  Inch 
Keith,  with  the  light-house  upon  it.  This  town  upon 
the  shore  is  Leith,  a  mile  and  a  half  from  Edinburgh ; 
and  that  is  Leith  Pier  which  ye  see  extending  out  into 
the  water.  Those  hills  to  the  south  are  the  Pentland 
Hills,  and  that  high  land,  further  east,  is  the  Lammer- 
muir,  the  scene  of  Sir  Walter  Scott's  novel  of  the 
Bride  of  Lammermuir." 

All  this,  and  a  great  deal  more,  in  answer  to  our  va- 
rious inquiries,  was  said  by  our  informant,  in  a  very 
pleasant  Scotch  tone,  but  in  good  English  words.  It 
was  a  striking  tribute  to  the  universality  of  the  inter- 
est which  Scott's  genius  has  awakened  in  the  human 
mind,  that  these  guides  may  always  safely  infer  that 
whoever  comes  to  the  top  of  Arthur's  Seat,  from  what 
nation  or  land  soever,  the  surest  way  to  interest  them, 
and  establish  a  claim  upon  them  for  a  little  fee,  is  to 
pass  by  the  palaces,  castles,  towns,  churches,  abbeys, 
and  all  other  objects  of  magnificence  and  splendor,  and 
show  them,  first  of  all,  where  to  look  for  Jeanie  Deans's 
cottage.  If  he  had  begun  by  telling  us  about  the  pal- 
ace of  Holyrood  House,  or  Stirling  Castle  in  the  dis- 
tance, at  the  north,  we  should  have  declined  his  assist- 
ance, and  saved  a  shilling.  But  "  Wad  the  ladie  like 
to  see  Jeanie  Deans's  cottage  ?  Yon  is  it,  by  the  road- 
side," was  irresistible.  We  were,  however,  very  much 
pleased  with  our  young  guide,  and  got  him  to  show  us 
down  the  hill  by  circuitous  and  precipitous  paths,  in  a 


Arthur's  seat. 


145 


The  Scotch  dialect.  '  St.  Anthony's  Well. 

quarter  wihch  we  had  not  before  explored,  and  at  length 
parted  with  him  at  the  bottom  of  the  hill. 

In  fact,  there  is  a  charm  about  the  Scotch  dialect  to 
one  who,  after  having  been  from  childhood  accustomed 
to  it,  in  reading  and  hearing  read  the  writings  of  Burns 
and  Scott,  now  for  the  first  time  listens  to  it  in  real  life, 
which  makes  you  glad  to  stop  and  talk  with  any  one 
who  uses  it,  whether  what  they  are  saying  is  of  any 
importance  or  not.  I  always  stopped  at  the  spring, 
going  and  coming,  to  have  a  little  talk  with  the  chil- 
dren there  ;  and  a  few  half  pence  distributed  among 
them  always  seemed  to  make  the  interview  as  pleas- 
ant on  their  part  as  it  was  on  mine.  One  evening,  in 
going  up,  I  heedlessly  distributed  in  this  manner  all 
the  half  pence  I  had.  On  returning,  at  the  close  of  the 
twilight,  one  little  boy  and  his  sister  were  there  alone, 
waiting  in  the  hope  of  getting  one  half  penny  more 
from  some  lingering  wanderer  like  myself.  The  boy 
met  me  some  way  up  the  path,  with  his  "  Wad  ye  like 
a  little  water,  sir,  fra  the  spring  ?" 

"  Yes."  I  was  thirsty  and  wanted  some  water ;  but 
I  did  not  wish  to  take  it  from  his  mug  without  giving 
him  his  half  penny.  Besides,  I  had  a  quaich  in  my  pock- 
et, which  I  had  purchased  that  day  for  a  souvenir  of 
Scotland,  and  I  wished  to  introduce  it  to  its  function 
by  using  it  first  at  St.  Anthony's  Well. 

A  quaich  is  a  cup  peculiar  to  Scotland,  used  by 
hunters  and  pedestrian  travelers.  It  has  a  flat  handle 
on  each  side,  so  that  one  person,  dipping  up  water  with 
it  from  a  spring  by  one  handle,  his  companion,  standing 
by,  may  conveniently  take  it  by  the  other.  They  are 
made  of  various  materials ;  some  of  horn,  some  of  wood 
some  of  silver,  of  plain  or  of  ornamental  workmanship. 

N 


146 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  quaicb.  Children  at  the  well. 

I  saw  some  made  of  a  beautiful  wood,  which  they  said 
was  Queen  Mary*s  yew,  a  tree  which  she  planted  in 
her  garden  at  Holyrood.  Others  are  of  oak,  from  the 
beams  of  the  old  Heart  of  Mid  Lothian,  saved  when  the 
building  was  taken  down.  Both  of  these  kinds  were 
mounted  and  tipped  with  silver.  I  had  obtained  one 
of  these  quaichs  made  of  horn,  when  in  Scotland  be- 
fore, and  it  had  been  for  many  years  my  constant 
companion  in  rural  excursions  and  summer  journeys, 
until  it  was  worn  out  in  the  service.  But  it  had  been 
at  once  so  useful,  and  so  pleasant  a  memorial  of  Scot- 
land, that  I  determined  to  replace  it  by  one  of  a  more 
permanent  material ;  and,  after  examining  a  great  many 
in  the  various  shops,  I  had  at  last  made  my  selection, 
and  was  to  use  it  now  for  the  first  time. 


So  I  told  the  little  water-bearer  who  came  up  the  hill 
to  meet  me,  that  I  had  given  away  all  my  half  pence 
in  coming  up  the  hill,  and  that,  besides,  I  had  a  quaich 
to  drink  from  in  my  pocket.  When  I  came  down  to 
the  spring,  I  talked  some  time  with  him  and  with  the 
little  girl,  who  afterward  proved  to  be  his  sister.  She 
corrected  herself  sometimes  in  her  Scotch,  turning  it 
into  English  for  my  accommodation ;  as,  for'  example, 
translating  "  I  dinna  ken,"  into  "  I  don't  know."  I  found 
they  had  earned  "  three  pence  ha'penny"  by  their  at- 
tendance at  the  spring  that  afternoon,  and  I  finally 


athur's  seat. 


147 


How  to  settle  a  difficulty.  Nothing  lost  by  civility. 

settled  the  difficulty  of  not  being  able  to  pay  them,  by 
giving  them  a  silver  sixpence  and  taking  all  their  cop- 
per in  exchange.  They  received  it  very  joyfully, 
though  they  were  very  particular  to  have  it  understood 
that  they  did  not  exact  any  pay.  "  Didna  I  tell  ye, 
sir,"  said  the  boy,  "  that  ye  suld  be  welcome  to  the 
drink  v^ithout  ony  ha'pence?"  This,  in  fact,  he  had 
done  up  the  path,  as  the  little  rogues  alv^rays  do,  know- 
ing well  that  they  lose  nothing  by  civility. 


148 


Visitors  to  Holyrood. 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Position  of  the  palace. 


LETTER  VIII. 

HOLYROOD. 

Au^st  16. 

Queen  Mary's  bed-room,  in  Holyrood  House,  is,  to 
a  great  many  persons,  the  most  interesting  place  that 
they  visit  in  Scotland  ;  and  scenes  and  places  most  in- 
teresting to  be  visited  are  very  often  the  least  interest- 
ing to  be  described.  Notwithstanding  this  ground  ot 
discouragement,  I  will  endeavor  to  convey  to  the  read- 
er some  idea  of  the  scene  which  presents  itself  to  the 
tourist  in  entering  these  ancient  rooms. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  the  palace  is  at  the  foot  ot 
the  High  Street,  as  the  castle  is  at  the  head.  In  going 
to  either,  you  cross  the  bridge  which  leads  from  the 
new  town  to  the  old,  and  then,  ascending  Bridge-street, 
you  turn  to  the  left  down  the  High  Street,  in  the  oppo- 
site direction  to  the  one  leading  to  the  castle.  I  have 
made  several  visits  to  these  rooms.  In  the  one  I  am 
about  to  describe  I  was  alone.  On  reaching  the  bot- 
tom of  the  High  Street,  or,  rather,  of  the  Canongate, 
which  is  the  name  given  to  the  lower  part  of  the  High 
Street,  I  emerged  into  a  broad,  paved  square,  with 
the  front  of  the  palace  on  the  further  side  of  it.  On 
the  right  was  a  fine  view  of  Arthur's  Seat  and  Salis- 
bury Crags,  with  a  broad  park  intervening.  On  the 
left  were  old  walls  and  buildings,  forming  a  part  of  the 
city  extending  toward  the  Calton  Hill. 

If  the  reader  wishes  to  form  an  accurate  conception 
of  the  locality  of  Mary's  rooms,  let  him  consider  care- 
fully the  following  description,  from  which,  I  think,  he 
will  be  able  to  identify  the  windows  of  her  apartments 


HOLYROOD. 


151 


Towers.  Mary's  rooms.  The  Royal  Chapel. 

in  any  engraving  of  the  palace.  The  front  toward  the 
city,  that  is,  the  front  which  is  presented  to  view  as 
we  come  out  upon  the  open  area,  above  referred  to,  in 
descending  the  High  Street,  has  two  square  towers 
projecting  forward  at  the  two  corners.  Of  course,  the 
space  between  these  projections  forms  a  sort  of  recess, 
in  the  middle  of  which  is  a  great  arched  door- way,  by 
which  we  can  gain  entrance  into  the  palace  when  the 
ponderous  gates  are  open. 

These  two  towers,  which  project  thus  at  the  extreme 
right  and  left  of  the  front  of  the  palace,  are  not  per- 
fectly square.  Their  general  form  is  that  of  a  square  ; 
but  there  are  round  towers  at  the  corners  of  them,  or, 
rather,  rounded  projections,  large  enough  to  contain 
small  rooms,  which  are  accessible  from  the  larger  rooms 
in  the  body  of  the  tower.  Mary's  rooms  were  on  the 
second  story,  and  were  situated  as  above  described. 
Her  bed-room  was  in  the  body  of  the  tower,  with  an- 
other larger  room,  an  ante-room,  behind  it.  She  had 
a  little  dressing-room  in  one  of  the  round  towers  ;  the 
inner  one,  that  is,  the  one  toward  the  main  entrance  of 
the  castle  ;  and  in  the  outer  one  she  had  a  little  private 
room,  where  she  was  at  supper  with  Rizzio  when  he 
was  murdered.  These  rooms,  in  which  every  thing 
remains  as  it  was  in  Mary's  day,  constitute  the  great 
point  of  attraction  at  Holyrood  House. 

There  are,  however,  two  other  objects  of  attraction. 
One  is  the  ruins  of  the  Royal  Chapel,  which  was  orig- 
inally built  with  great  magnificence,  but  is  now  roof- 
less and  desolate.  It  is  in  the  rear  of  the  palace,  and 
projects  to  the  northward  so  as  to  be  connected  with 
it  by  only  one  corner,  where  there  was  a  private  stair- 
case which  led  up  through  the  northern  wall  of  the 


152 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Charles  X.  Arch-way.  Piazza.  Court 

building  to  Mary's  apartments.  This  chapel,  though 
now  in  ruins,  contains  many  memorials  of  its  former 
elegance  and  grandeur. 

The  other  source  of  attraction  in  the  edifice  is  the  suite 
of  rooms  occupied  by  Charles  X.  of  France,  who  was 
expelled  from  that  country  by  the  famous  revolution 
of  July,  in  1830,  by  which  Louis  Philippe  was  placed 
upon  the  throne.  Charles  X.  occupied  a  range  of  apart- 
ments on  the  opposite  side,  diagonally  from  the  tower 
in  which  Mary's  apartments  were  situated.  These 
apartments  are  all  nearly  alike.  The  beds  remain,  and 
some  old-fashioned  furniture.  The  floors  are  bare,  and 
the  whole  scene  has  a  deserted  and  desolate  appear- 
ance. They  are  of  no  interest  to  any  one  who  has 
seen  how  such  suites  of  rooms  are  ordinarily  arranged 
in  European  palaces,  except  as  the  place  where  an  un- 
happy monarch  and  his  family  wore  away  the  years 
of  their  exile. 

And  now  to  return  to  the  great  square  in  front  of 
the  palace.  Soldiers  were  walking  pompously  to  and 
fro  before  the  great  door.  At  a  little  distance  outside 
of  them,  two  or  three  carriages,  belonging  to  parties  of 
visitors,  were  standing  in  the  square,  with  coachmen 
and  footmen  in  livery.  I  passed  by  the  soldiers,  and 
entered  by  the  great  arch-way,  which  conducted  me 
quite  through  the  front  of  the  edifice  into  an  inner  court, 
which  was  surrounded  by  the  buildings  of  the  palace. 
Here  was  a  piazza,  covering  a  broad,  paved  walk,  which 
extended  entirely  around  this  inner  court.  I  was  met 
under  this  piazza  by  an  agreeable-looking  young  wom- 
an with  her  bonnet  on.  It  is  a  curious  example,  by- 
the-way,  of  the  changes  which  the  laws  of  propriety 
undergo,  in  different  latitudes,  that  in  Scotland  it  would 


HOLYROOD. 


153 


Bonnets.  Stair-sase.  Gallery  of  portraits. 

not  be  proper  for  a  young  woman,  of  this  rank  in  life,  to 
appear  without  a  bonnet  in  any  situation  which  is  at  all 
of  a  public  character.  They  wear  bonnets  when  at- 
tending behind  the  counter  in  a  shop.  In  France  it 
would  not  be  proper,  that  is,  it  would  be  presumptu- 
ous for  her  to  wear  one  at  all,  even  in  the  street.  Thus 
in  Edinburgh  they  are  always  covered  ;  in  Paris  never. 

The  young  woman  ask'ed  me  if  I  wished  to  see  the 
apartments,  and,  on  my  answering  in  the  affirmative, 
she  directed  me  to  a  party  who  were  just  then  going  up 
the  stair-case,  nearest  to  Mary's  rooms.  This  stair- 
case was  contained  in  a  third  round  tower,  back  of  the 
one  containing  Mary's  little  supper-room,  half  way 
between  it  and  the  front  of  the  chapel.  The  party  had 
been  to  visit  the  chapel  itself,  and  were  returning  along 
the  piazza,  inside  the  court,  when  I  entered.  I  follow- 
ed them  up  the  stair-case,  but,  instead  of  entering  at 
first  into  Queen  Mary's  rooms,  we  turned  the  other 
way,  and  entered  a  very  spacious  hall,  which  occupies 
the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  the  building  on  that 
side  of  the  court,  extending  back  from  the  tower  con- 
taining Queen  Mary's  apartments  to  the  chapel.  The 
floor  of  the  hall  was  bare,  the  ceiling  lofty.  The  walls 
were  of  oak  wainscoting,  with  windows  only  upon 
one  side,  toward  the  inner  court.  On  the  opposite  side 
was  a  range  of  very  large  panels,  with  smaller  ones 
between.  Each  large  panel  was  occupied  by  a  full- 
length  portrait  of  a  Scottish  monarch,  comprising  on 
one  side  and  one  end  the  whole  Stuart  dynasty.  These 
portraits  are  of  full  length,  and  each  dressed  in  the  full 
regal  costume  of  the  day  to  which  it  pertained.  The 
paintings  are  old,  and  darkened  by  time.  The  smaller 
panels  are  likewise  filled  with  paintings,  heads  and 


154 


SUMMER   IN  SCOTLAND. 


Maria  Stewartus.  Solitude. 

half  lengths  only,  portraits  of  the  distinguished  men  ol 
the  several  reigns.  The  respectable-looking  woman 
who  guided  us  through  this  gallery  gave  the  names  oi 
the  kings,  successively,  as  we  walked  along,  and  now 
and  then  some  particular  of  the  life  or  character  ot 
each  ;  but  all  the  interest  of  the  whole  collection,  for 
most  eyes,  as  I  should  judge,  from  observation  of  some 
hundreds  of  visitors  whom  I  have  seen  pass  down  the 
hall,  is  concentrated  in  the  three  middle  paintings  ol 
the  row,  Queen  Mary  herself,  preceded  by  James  V., 
her  father,  and  followed  by  James  VI.,  her  son.  Though 
Mary's  portrait  is  old,  and  darkened  like  the  rest,  the 
bloom  and  beauty  of  the  original  beam  out  still,  in 
strong  contrast  with  the  warlike  aspect  and  armor  of 
the  fierce  soldiers  who  precede  and  follow  her.  Hers, 
too,  is  the  only  female  face  in  the  line ;  and  the  most 
careless  saunterers  through  the  gallery  always  pause 
a  moment  thoughtfully  before  the  portrait  of  the  queen. 
It  is  inscribed,  in  ancient  letters,  Maria  Stewartus. 

At  the  end  of  the  gallery  the  party  which  I  had  fallen 
into  were  ushered  through  a  door  turning  to  the  right, 
which  was  to  conduct  them  to  the  apartments  occupied 
by  Charles  X.  As  I  had  seen  these  apartments  before, 
I  told  the  guide  I  would  remain  in  the  gallery  until  she 
returned.  They  accordingly  went  away,  the  door 
closed  after  them,  and  I  remained  in  the  great  hall 
alone.  There  was  no  furniture  of  any  kind,  except  a 
row  of  plain  benches,  covered  with  red  cloth,  which 
were  placed  against  the  sides  of  the  room  all  around. 
I  took  my  seat  upon  the  bench  which  was  opposite  to 
the  portrait  of  Mary.  After  the  sound  of  one  or  two 
distant  doors,  sending  a  reverberation  by  their  shutting 
along  the  palace  walls,  ceased  to  be  heard,  all  was  still. 


HOLYROOD. 


155 


James  V.  Mary.  James  VI, 

Every  thing  around  me  spoke  of  ancient  times  ;  and 
there  was  nothing  to  dispel  the  illusion  by  which,  in 
such  a  situation,  one  forgets  the  present  and  throws 
himself  back  into  the  past,  when  he  is  isolated  entirely 
from  the  one  and  wholly  surrounded  by  memorials  of 
the  other. 

There  seemed  to  be  concentrated  a  long  period  of 
history  in  the  three  portraits  before  me.  James  V., 
Mary's  father,  was  at  war  with  England  at  the  time 
of  her  birth  ;  and,  unhappily,  had  a  quarrel  with  his 
own  nobles  at  the  same  time.  He  was  perplexed,  dis- 
tracted, and  in  despair  at  the  difficulties  of  his  situa- 
tion. Finally,  he  organized  an  army,  his  nobles  joining 
with  him  for  the  purpose  ;  and,  as  he  had  not  confidence 
enough  in  them  to  intrust  any  of  them  with  the  com- 
mand, he  appointed  one  of  his  own  personal  favorites  to 
lead  them.  This  threw  his  whole  force  into  confusion. 
The  English  attacked  and  routed  them  with  a  very 
small  force,  and  the  poor  king  fell  into  a  state  of  ex- 
treme melancholy  and  depression,  and  died  most  wretch- 
edly. He  was  dying  in  this  state  when  Mary  was 
born. 

Of  course,  the  queen  before  me,  in  the  range  of  paint- 
ings, was  an  infant  when  the  original  of  the  portrait 
preceding  her  ceased  to  exist.  Mary  was  queen  when 
she  was  but  a  few  days  old.  I  had  her  before  me  in 
the  bloom  of  womanhood,  as  she  appeared  probably 
about  the  time  that  her  son  was  born.  That  son  came 
next  in  the  panels  ;  not  as  an  infant,  however,  but  in 
full  maturity,  his  countenance  marked  by  years  and 
care.  This  was  the  James  who  became  King  of  En- 
gland as  well  as  Scotland  on  the  death  of  Elizabeth,  he 
being  the  next  heir.    In  him,  accordingly,  the  English 


156 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Union  of  crowns.  The  ante-room.  Furniture. 

and  Scotch  crowns  were  united,  though  the  kingdoms 
remained  separate  for  some  time  afterward,  each  hav- 
ing its  own  parliament  and  making  its  ow^n  laws.  As 
there  had  been  no  James  before  among  the  English 
kings,  he  was  James  /.  of  England,  though  James  VL 
of  Scotland,  and  is  generally  designated  in  history  by 
this  double  name.  The  union  of  the  Scotch  and  En- 
glish crowns  which  took  place  in  him  is  a  great  epoch 
in  the  history  of  Great  Britain. 

The  party  returned  from  exploring  the  apartments 
of  Charles  X.  much  sooner  than  I  wished  to  see  them, 
and  we  began  to  ascend  together  a  winding  stair  in 
the  round  tower  which  I  have  before  alluded  to.  The 
stair-case  was  lighted  by  very  narrow  loopholes  cut  in 
the  walls,  which  were  of  great  thickness,  requiring  very 
deep  embrasures.  After  ascending  a  little  way,  we 
entered  the  first  of  Mary's  suite  of  rooms.  It  was,  of 
course,  the  back  room,  or  ante-room,  referred  to  in  the 
general  description  of  the  arrangement  of  the  rooms 
already  given. 

On  entering  the  room,  every  one  is  immediately 
struck  with  the  extremely  antique  expression  which 
characterizes  the  whole  aspect  of  the  interior.  An  old 
bedstead,  with  curtains  and  counterpanes  discolored 
and  tattered  ;  ancient-looking  pictures,  small  and  great, 
upon  the  walls  and  in  the  recesses  of  the  windows ; 
quaint  and  old-fashioned  tables,  supporting  images  and 
ornaments  quainter  still ;  and  high-backed  chairs,  cov- 
ered with  ancient  embroidery,  the  colors,  some  faded 
and  some  deepened  by  the  long  lapse  of  years,  and  all 
looking  fragile  and  ephemeral  in  the  extreme.  We 
often  see  in  these  old  countries  relics  some  centuries 
old,  but  they  are  generally  in  the  shape  of  something 


IIOLYROOD. 


157 


Mary  in  France.  The  grate. 

substantial,  which  might  have  been  expected  to  have 
survived  the  ravages  of  time.  Old  oaken  carvings, 
statues,  inscriptions,  or  sculptured  images  in  stone,  meet 
us  every  where  among  ancient  ruins.  But  the  print, 
scarcely  framed,  which  a  lady  hung  up  at  the  window 
of  her  bed-chamber,  her  work-basket,  her  bed,  with 
its  pillows  and  its  curtains,  the  cushioned  chair  in  w^hich 
she  was  accustomed  to  recline,  frail  memorials  like 
these,  which  nearly  three  centuries  have  done  their 
best  to  consume,  constitute  a  very  extraordinary  spec- 
tacle. 

By  this  time  there  were  twenty  or  thirty  persons  in 
the  room,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  company  being 
formed  of  several  parties  combined.  The  conductress 
passed  through  them  to  the  front,  and  began  pointing 
out  the  various  objects  of  interest  in  the  room. 

"  That  grate,"  said  she,  "  is  said  to  be  the  first  grate 
introduced  into  Scotland.  It  was  brought  with  Queen 
Mary  when  she  came  from  France." 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Mary  was  sent  to  France 
to  be  educated,  when  she  was  very  young.  She  at- 
tracted great  attention  while  there,  being  universally 
admired  for  her  beauty  and  accomplishments.  She 
married  the  son  of  the  King  of  France  there,  who  was 
thus  her  first  husband.  He  died,  and  Mary,  in  the 
midst  of  her  affliction  and  sorrow,  was  compelled,  by 
political  influences,  to  return  to  Scotland.  She  came 
very  much  against  her  will ;  but  queens  can  seldom 
have  their  own  way.  The  grate  was  a  large  iron  one, 
all  in  ruins.  It  stood  upon  the  hearth  of  a  great  open 
fire-place,  the  sides  lined  with  glazed  tiles  and — 

But  here  my  observations  of  the  fire-place  were  cut 
short  by, 

O 


158 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  double  chair.  Darnley.  Rizzio. 

"  These  chairs,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  were  used  by- 
Mary  herself.  That  double  one  was  for  herself  and 
Lord  Darnley,  as  you  see  by  the  inscriptions  upon  it." 

It  was  a  large  arm-chair,  wide  enough  for  two  per- 
sons to  sit  in.  It  had  a  decayed  and  old-fashioned, 
rather  than  antique  look,  but  was  evidently  intended 
for  a  splendid  throne  in  its  day.  It  had  royal  emblems 
embroidered  in  the  covering,  and  the  initials  of  Mary 
and  of  Darnley.  Lord  Darnley  was  Mary's  cousin, 
and  he  became  her  husband  not  long  after  her  return 
from  France.  At  first  Mary  regarded  him  with  strong 
affection,  and  was  disposed  to  associate  him  with  her- 
self in  the  government ;  and  this  double  throne,  as  it 
were,  was  made  under  the  influence  of  this  regard. 
Her  feelings  toward  him,  however,  soon  changed. 
There  are  two  sides  to  the  question  of  the  cause  of  the 
change.  Lord  Darnley  had  a  young  Italian,  almost  a 
boy,  in  fact,  in  his  service,  whom  Mary  subsequently 
made  her  private  secretary.  He  was  a  gentle,  affec- 
tionate, beautiful  boy.  Mary  became  very  strongly 
attached  to  him.  He  wrote  for  her ;  he  taught  her 
Italian ;  he  played  to  her,  for  he  was  a  skillful  musician. 
Now  one  opinion  is  that  this  young  man — his  name  was 
David  Rizzio — acquired  too  strong  an  ascendency  over 
Mary's  mind,  and  that  either  he  used  this  influence  him- 
self directly  to  Lord  Darnley's  disadvantage,  or  else 
that,  through  the  natural  influence  of  such  an  impru- 
dent attachment  on  the  part  of  a  wife,  she  gradually 
lost  her  regard  and  affection  for  her  husband.  The 
other  opinion  is,  that  Lord  Darnley  lost  the  love  and 
esteem  of  his  wife  by  his  own  inherent  faults  and  de- 
ficiencies of  character,  which  gradually  revealed  them- 
selves after  his  marriage.    At  any  rate,  Darnley  and 


HOLYROOD. 


159 


Embroidered  chair.  Mary  in  her  execution  robes.  Her  bed-room. 

his  friends  imbibed  the  opinion  that  David  Rizzio  had 
supplanted  him  in  the  affections  of  the  queen,  and  they 
afterward  killed  him. 

"  And  this  chair,"  continued  the  conductress,  point- 
ing to  another  near  the  double  chair  of  state,  "was  em- 
broidered by  Mary  herself." 

We  began  to  look  at  the  embroidered  covering  of 
the  chair. 

"  This  picture,"  resumed  the  conductress,  "  is  a  rep- 
resentation of  Mary  in  her  execution  robes,  as  she  was 
led  out  to  be  beheaded  by  order  of  Queen  Ehzabeth, 
after  an  imprisonment  of  eighteen  years." 

Thus  we  passed  along  from  one  object  to  another, 
slowly  enough,  apparently,  to  satisfy  most  of  the  com- 
pany, but  so  fast  that  I  remained  in  the  rooms  while 
three  or  four  successive  parties  came  and  went,  before 
I  could  sufficiently  examine  them  all.  After  thus  sur- 
veying the  ante-room,  we  went  forward  through  an 
open  door,  which  conducted  us  into  Mary's  own  bed- 
room. The  apartment  was  not  large,  and  every  thing 
had  the  same  darkened  and  time-worn  expression  with 
the  room  which  we  had  just  passed  through.  The  bed 
was  small  and  low ;  it  had  four  very  tall  posts,  and  a 
dark-red  canopy  above.  There  was  a  certain  elab- 
orate workmanship  about  the  coverings  and  curtains 
which  indicated  that  it  was  intended  to  be  somewhat 
magnificent  in  its  time  ;  but  it  had  nothing  of  the  ele- 
gant splendor  in  which  a  royal  couch  is  decked  at  the 
present  day.  There  were  the  same  frail-looking  pic- 
tures hung  about  the  walls,  and  antique  furniture  at  the 
sides  of  the  room,  as  in  the  other  apartments.  The 
walls  themselves  were  all  covered  with  tapestry :  the 
gobehn  tapestry,  manufactured  near  Paris.    This  tap- 


160 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Engravings.  Embroidery,  Work-box. 

estry  hung  like  a  loose  curtain  all  about  the  room. 
On  raising  it,  we  brought  to  view  the  bare,  smooth 
stone  surface  of  the  wall  behind. 

If  the  reader  will  call  to  mind  the  description  I  gave 
at  the  outset  of  the  position  of  this  room,  he  will  recol- 
lect that  it  occupies  the  center  of  one  of  the  projections 
from  the  front  of  the  building,  the  ante-room  being  di- 
rectly behind  it.  Of  course,  the  ante-room  had  win- 
dows in  the  sides,  and  in  the  front  a  door,  leading  into 
Mary's  bed-room.  This  bed-room  itself,  however,  had 
its  window  in  front,  being  the  middle  window  in  the 
flat  part  of  the  projection,  and  it  can  probably  be  identi- 
fied by  this  description  on  any  view  of  the  palace  to 
which  the  reader  may  have  opportunity  to  refer.  As 
we  advanced  to  look  out  at  this  window,  we  found,  of 
course,  that  it  commanded  a  view  of  the  large,  open 
square  in  front  of  the  palace.  As  the  walls  of  this  part 
of  the  palace  are  very  thick,  the  window  recess  was, 
of  course,  very  deep.  The  sides  of  this  recess  were 
ornamented  with  engravings  and  specimens  of  embroid- 
ery which  Mary  herself  had,  perhaps,  placed  there. 
At  one  corner  of  this  recess  was  the  queen's  work-ta- 
ble ;  there  was  a  box  upon  it,  which  the  conductress 
opened.  It  was  a  work-box,  spacious,  and  undoubted- 
ly costly  in  its  time,  and  enough  like  the  work-boxes  of 
the  present  day  to  be  the  type  and  progenitor  of  them 
all.  There  was  the  glass  on  the  under  side  of  the  lid, 
the  silk  lining  now  decayed  and  torn,  the  pin-cushion 
filling  one  compartment,  and  other  compartments  emp 
ty,  but  intended  to  hold  whatever,  in  those  days,  took 
the  place  of  the  thimble,  the  emery-bag,  and  the  spool. 
There  was  in  this  box  a  beautiful  miniature  of  Mary 
at  the  time  of  her  marriage  with  Lord  Darnley.  The 


HOLYROOD. 


161 


The  portrait.  French  and  English.  The  dressing-room. 

conductress  took  this  picture  out,  and  hung  it  upon  a 
particular  hook  in  the  hght  of  the  window  for  the  ad- 
miration of  each  successive  party.  The  English  visit- 
ors looked  at  it  in  silence  ;  the  French,  of  whom  a  party 
of  a  dozen  came  while  I  was  there,  filled  the  air  with 
the  exclamations,  "  Ah  !  voila  la  reine  !"  ^^Ah  I  qu^elle 
estjolieJ^  "  Elle  est  Men  belle^  Louise,  rCest  ce  pas  ?"* 
There  was  a  broad  and  shallow,  and  very  delicately- 
constructed  basket  shown  us,  which  tradition  says  was 
used  by  Mary  to  hold  the  clothes  of  her  infant  son,  the 
one  who  afterward  became  James  I.  of  England  and 
James  VI.  of  Scotland  ;  and  other  similar  memorials, 
which  it  was  impressive  to  see,  but  would  be  tedious 
to  describe.  We  will,  accordingly,  pass  on  into  the  two 
little  rooms  before  referred  to,  which,  it  will  be  recol- 
lected, are  in  the  round  towers,  built  at  the  front  cor- 
ners of  the  great  square  projection,  in  the  body  of  which 
the  ante -room  and  the  bed -room  are  situated.  Of 
course,  access  to  these  towers  must  be  obtained  in  the 
front  corners  of  Mary's  bed-room.  We  advanced  first 
into  the  one  on  the  left  hand,  that  is,  on  the  left  hand 
as  we  approached  the  front  of  the  room  in  the  inside. 
It  would,  of  course,  be  in  the  right-hand  tower  of  the 
left  square  projection,  to  any  one  looking  at  a  view  ot 
the  building,  or  at  the  building  itself,  in  front.  The 
room  was  small — very  small  and  square,  notwithstand- 
ing the  circular  form  of  the  tower  on  the  outside.  It 
was  the  queen's  dressing-room.  There  were  some  old- 
fashioned,  high-backed  chairs  there,  covered  with  some 
sort  of  woolen  stuff.  There  were  two  flower-stands, 
the  stems  for  the  support  of  which  were  quaint-look- 


*  Ah !  here  is  Clueen  Mary !  Ah,  how  lovely  she  is !  She  is  very  beau- 
tiful, is  not  she,  Louisa? 

02 


162 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  cabinet.  Private  stair-case.  Murder  of  Rizzio. 

ing  figures,  standing  upon  the  heads  and  shoulders  of 
each  other  in  ludicrous  attitudes.  There  was  a  look- 
ing-glass upon  the  wall ;  it  was  oval  in  form,  and  with- 
out a  frame.  The  back  was  covered  with  a  metallic 
plate,  which  was  just  brought  over  the  edges  in  front. 
The  reflecting  powers  of  the  surface  were  nearly  gone. 

We  left  the  dressing-room,  and  crossed  the  bed-room 
again  toward  the  door  which  led  into  the  little  cabinet 
in  the  other  tower.  Here  were  two  doors,  in  fact,  side 
by  side ;  one  led  into  the  little  cabinet ;  the  other  led 
into  an  opening  in  the  wall,  where  was  the  stair-case 
leading  down  along  the  whole  northern  side  of  the 
building  into  the  chapel :  this  was  the  private  stair- 
case leading  from  the  chapel  to  Mary's  rooms,  which 
has  been  already  alluded  to.  Of  course,  the  door  at 
the  head  of  it  not  only  opened  into  Mary's  bed-cham- 
ber, but  it  entered  there  close  to  the  side  of  the  little 
cabinet  in  the  northwestern  round  tower. 

Lord  Darnley  and  some  of  his  friends  formed  a  se- 
cret plan  to  assassinate  Rizzio  one  night  when  he  was 
at  supper  with  the  queen,  with  one  or  two  other  friends, 
in  this  little  cabinet.  They  brought  an  armed  force 
into  the  inner  court  of  the  palace ;  they  crept  up  the 
private  stair-case,  a  ferocious  man  named  Ruthven  at 
their  head  ;  they  came  out  into  the  bed-room,  and  some 
of  them  broke  into  the  cabinet.  A  horrible  scene  of 
terror  and  suffering  ensued.  Rizzio  fled  to  Mary  for 
protection.  She  did  all  in  her  power  to  protect  him, 
but  in  vain  ;  they  wounded  him  and  dragged  him  from 
her ;  they  took  him  out  through  her  bed-room  into  the 
ante-room,  and  here  they  plunged  their  daggers  into 
him  and  through  him,  again  and  again,  committing  fifty 
murders  on  one  poor,  helpless  boy.    The  conductress 


HOLYROOD. 


163 


Rizzio's  portrait;  Visitors.  The  chapel. 

took  us  to  the  place,  and  showed  us  certain  dark  dis- 
colorations  in  the  floor  and  in  the  door-posts,  which 
have  been  shown  as  the  traces  of  his  blood,  from  the 
time  of  his  assassination  to  the  present  day. 

There  is  a  portrait  of  poor  Rizzio  hanging  up  in  the 
little  cabinet.  In  looking  upon  the  juvenile  beauty  of 
his  face,  every  body  acquits  him  of  crime.  At  one  vis- 
it, I  heard  a  very  inflexible  moralist,  of  the  purest  Puri- 
tan blood,  say  he  did  not  blame  Mary  for  loving  him. 
On  the  table,  in  this  little  room,  or,  rather,  closet,  lies 
the  armor  which  Lord  Ruthven  wore  on  the  night  ol 
the  assassination :  the  iron  breast-plate,  the  heavy 
leathern  boots,  the  gauntlets,  and  other  equipments  ol 
an  ancient  soldier.  The  room  has  never  been  occupied 
since  this  terrible  assassination  took  place.  Crowds, 
of  course,  began,  immediately  after  the  event,  to  seek 
admission  to  the  scene  of  it,  and  the  long  train  of  vis- 
itors has  continued,  with  little  interruption,  ever  since 
The  lapse  of  three  centuries  has  but  increased  the  num- 
bers who  take  an  interest  in  these  rooms,  and  deepen- 
ed the  emotions  with  which  they  regard  them. 

I  went  down  to  the  chapel,  and  wandered  a  while 
among  the  ruined  aisles.  It  is  full  of  tombstones  and 
monuments,  with  inscriptions  effaced  by  time.  In  one 
corner  is  a  tomb  where  the  Scottish  kings  were  inter- 
red in  leaden  coffins.  In  Cromwell's  time  they  wanted 
the  lead  for  bullets,  and  put  the  bones  upon  the  shelves 
which  the  coffins  had  themselves  originally  occupied, 
where  we  now  see  them  by  looking  through  the  iron 
grating  of  the  door.  I  lingered  here  after  the  party 
had  gone ;  and  in  the  interval  which  elapsed  before  a 
fresh  supply  of  visitors  came,  I  talked  with  the  con- 
ductress who  has  charge  of  this  part  of  the  edifice. 


164 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Conversation  with  the  conductress.  Ivy. 

about  the  duties  of  her  place.  She  seemed  fatigued 
with  the  incessant  calls  upon  her  time  and  strength 
which  the  showing  of  the  buildings  made.  "  It  is  very 
hard  work,"  she  said ;  "  sometimes,  too,  they  go  away 
without  paying  us,  and  sometimes  they  laugh  at  us,  ^nd 
that  makes  us  feel  discouraged."  In  return  for  my  ex- 
pressions of  sympathy  and  good- will,  she  helped  me  to 
get  down  some  branches  of  an  ivy  plant  which  was 
growing  upon  the  mullions  of  the  eastern  window,  high 
above  my  head,  and  which  I  told  her  I  should  carry 
away  as  a  precious  relic.  As  I  came  out  she  showed 
me  the  entrance  to  Queen  Mary's  private  stair-case, 
which  led,  as  has  been  before  remarked,  from  the  chapel 
to  her  bed-room ;  and  in  a  narrow  passage  leading  from 
the  chapel  to  the  court  of  the  palace,  she  pointed  with 
her  foot  to  one  of  the  stones  of  the  pavement  beneath 
which  the  body  of  Rizzio  was  buried. 


LINLITHGOW.  165 


Mary,  queen  of  Scots.  Situation  of  Linlithgow. 


LETTER  IX. 

LINLITHGOW. 

August  17. 

Mary,  queen  of  Scots,  was  born  in  her  father's  pal- 
ace at  Linlithgow,  about  twenty  miles  west  of  Edin- 
burgh, not  very  far  from  the  Forth,  which  here  flows 
eastward  into  the  sea.  Linlithgow  is,  however,  not 
directly  upon  the  river,  but  some  miles  south  of  it,  upon 
the  shore  of  a  little  pond,  or  loch,  as  it  is  called.  The 
pond  is  about  a  mile  long  from  east  to  west,  and  the 
town  is  all  built  upon  one  street,  which  runs  parallel 
to  the  shore  of  the  pond,  on  the  southern  side,  at  a  little 
distance  from  the  water.  Between  the  village  and  the 
pond,  and  about  opposite  to  the  middle  of  it,  is  a  large 
knoll,  which  projects  a  little,  like  a  promontory,  into  the 
water.  The  palace  was  built  upon  this  knoll,  which 
had  a  flat  surface  upon  the  top  of  it,  of  about  an  acre 
in  extent,  which  the  palace  and  its  courts  almost  en- 
tirely occupied.  On  the  southern  edge  of  it,  however, 
where  the  avenue  to  the  palace  ascends  from  the  vil- 
lage, an  ancient  church  was  built,  which,  together  with 
the  palace,  and  the  walls  and  gate-ways  connected 
with  them,  form  now  a  venerable  pile  of  ruins,  in  a  ro- 
mantic and  beautiful  position ;  and  which  are  visited 
by  many  travelers,  both  on  account  of  their  intrinsic 
beauty  and  of  their  historical  interest,  more  especially 
on  account  of  the  circumstance  that  they  contain  the 
apartment  where  poor  Queen  Mary  was  born. 

We  had  learned  the  above  facts  from  books,  and, 
wishing  to  visit  the  ruins,  we  took  places  in  the  Edin- 
burgh and  Glasgow  rail-road  train ;  and  after  half  an 


166 


SUMMER   IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  station.  The  street.  Aspect  of  the  town. 

hour's  ride  from  Edinburgh,  we  were  set  down  at  the 
Linlithgow  station,  our  party  being  left  there  by  the 
train  ahnost  in  solitude.  The  station  was  very  near 
the  eastern  end  of  the  town,  and  the  inn  was  close  to 
the  station.  If  the  reader  will  remember  this,  and  if 
he  has  observed  attentively  what  was  said  about  the 
relative  position  of  the  street  and  the  pond,  and  more 
especially  still,  if  he  will  find  Linlithgow  and  its  little 
lake  upon  some  map  of  Scotland,  he  will  be  assisted 
to  obtain  correct  ideas  of  its  geographical  relations, 
which  will  enable  him  to  understand,  much  better 
than  he  otherwise  would  do,  the  description  which 
follows. 

When  we  set  forth  from  our  inn  to  go  to  visit  the 
ruins,  we  found  ourselves  in  a  broad  and  winding  street, 
having  an  entirely  different  character  and  expression 
from  those  of  American  towns.  There  was  a  Macad- 
amized carriage-way  in  the  center,  upon  which,  how- 
ever, a  carriage  was  very  rarely  seen.  There  was  a 
very  broad  paved  sidewalk  upon  each  side,  bounded 
by  rows  of  stone  houses,  or,  rather,  cottages,  close  upon 
the  street,  without  yards,  or  any  thing  green  in  front 
of  them  or  between  them.  The  street  was,  in  fact, 
perfectly  imprisoned  between  two  continuous  walls 
formed  by  the  fronts  of  the  houses.  The  buildings  had 
a  very  venerable  appearance,  being  quaint  and  antique 
in  their  forms.  Here  and  there  was  an  ancient-looking 
structure,  surmounted  by  an  image  of  stone,  and  with 
a  small  pipe  in  the  side  of  it,  from  which  water  was 
issuing ;  and  girls  were  there  with  their  pails  to  get 
water.  Children  were  playing  in  the  door-ways  of 
the  houses,  and  peasant-like  looking  women  were  sit- 
ting or  standing  at  the  windows,  to  observe  the  party 


LINLITHGOW. 


107 


The  "cross  well."  The  party.  Approach  to  the  palace. 

of  Strangers  as  they  passed.  With  these  and  similar 
exceptions,  the  street  was  empty  and  still. 

We  walked  along,  perhaps,  to  near  the  middle  of  the 
street,  in  respect  to  its  length,  when  we  came  to  an  old 
octagonal  structure,  with  grotesque  sculptured  figures 
all  around  it,  each  spouting  water  from  its  mouth,  the 
streams  being  collected  below.  Here  a  street  branch- 
ed off  at  right  angles,  and,  turning  into  it,  we  found  a 
short  and  gentle  ascent,  terminated  by  an  ancient  gate- 
way, with  the  lofty  walls  of  the  palace  rising  beyond 
it.  We  walked  up  the  ascent,  and  approached  the 
great  gate-way,  where  we  were  received  by  a  very 
respectable-looking  woman,  who  has  charge  of  show- 
ing the  place.  We  met  some  other  visitors  here,  so 
that  our  party  amounted  now  to  five  or  six  in  number. 

We  were  still  outside  of  the  palace,  the  gate-way 
admitting  us  only  to  an  inclosure  in  front  of  it,  or  outer 
court,  as  it  might  be  called.  The  walls  of  the  palace 
were  before  us.  They  were  very  picturesque  in  form, 
and  covered  with  the  crumbling  and  mutilated  remains 
of  ancient  sculptures  and  inscriptions.  Weeds  and 
briers  were  growing  in  the  windows  and  crevices. 
The  roofs  were  gone.  The  whole  had  a  very  sad  and 
somber  expression,  which  was  increased  by  the  mel- 
ancholy sighing  of  the  wind  in  the  trees,  aged  and  ven- 
erable, which  were  growing  around.  Between  the 
trees  we  could  see  the  waters  of  the  little  loch  and  the 
smooth  green  fields  beyond. 

We  approached  an  arched  door-way  in  front  of  the 
palace.  It  was  closed  by  great  doors,  which  our  at- 
tendant opened.  This  admitted  us  into  a  large  square 
court,  surrounded  by  the  buildings  of  the  palace.  This 
court  was  covered  with  a  rank  growth  of  grass.  A 


168 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  court-yard.  Sculptures  and  inscriptions.  Stair-case. 

mass  of  sculpture  in  ruins  stood  in  the  center,  which 
was  originally  a  fountain.  A  little  lamb,  as  perfect  an 
embodiment  of  youth  and  beauty  as  the  palace  itself 
was  of  age  and  decay,  was  tethered  to  a  little  iron  stake 
put  down  in  the  grass,  so  that  he  could  feed  in  a  circle 
about  it.  The  lofty  and  roofless  walls  rose  high  all 
around  us,  the  very  picture  of  gloomy  grandeur.  There 
were  inscriptions,  and  escutcheons,  and  relievos  carved 
upon  them  every  where.  There  were  old  niches, 
whose  tenants — the  images  of  saints  and  martyrs — had 
long  since  tumbled  out  and  disappeared.  And  there 
were  headless  trunks,  and  noseless  heads,  and  frag- 
ments evidently  something  once,  but  perfectly  shape- 
less now,  which  were  still  clinging  to  their  positions  ; 
and  long  grass  and  tall  bushes  waved  in  the  wind  along 
the  tops  of  the  wall.  On  the  whole,  it  was  a  scene  of 
melancholy  desolation,  of  which  they  who  have  not 
seen  such  ruins  can  form  but  a  very  faint  idea. 

At  each  of  the  corners  of  the  palace  was  a  large 
tower  containing  a  stair-case,  by  which  access  was  ob- 
tained to  the  apartments  above.  Our  conductress  led 
the  way  to  one  of  these,  and  our  whole  party  began 
to  follow,  except  one  gentleman,  who,  being  not  fully 
recovered  from  a  recent  illness,  said  he  would  not  at- 
tempt to  mount  the  stairs,  but  would  remain  below  in 
the  court  and  "  talk  with  the  lamb."  The  good  lady, 
then,  asking  us  to  wait  a  moment,  produced  from  some 
unknown  quarter  an  antique  chair,  which  we  placed 
for  our  invalid  on  the  sunny  side  of  the  fountain,  and 
we  then  followed  our  conductress  again  to  the  arched 
opening  in  the  tower.  We  came  at  once  upon  an  old 
well-worn  flight  of  stone  steps,  broad,  massive,  and  sol- 
id, which  ascended  spirally  within  the  tower.  After 


LINLITHGOW. 


1G9 


Banqueting  hall.  Hall  of  Parliament. 

mounting  a  while,  we  crept  through  an  open  door-way, 
and  found  just  room  to  stand  upon  some  little  plat- 
forms of  stone  remaining  in  window  recesses  and  cor- 
ners, with  weeds  and  grass  growing  upon  them.  After 
helping  the  ladies  in — who  advanced  timidly  to  so  nar- 
row and  precarious  a  footing — we  found  ourselves  in 
a  position  where  we  could  look  up  and  down  between 
the  lofty  walls,  and  trace  out,  by  various  architectural 
indications,  the  forms  and  character  of  the  apartments 
which  must  have  anciently  existed  there.  The  roof 
was  gone,  and  so  were  all  the  floors  ;  but  we  could  re- 
place the  latter,  in  imagination,  by  means  of  the  rows  of 
holes  where  the  beams  had  entered.  There  were  also 
large  sculptured  fire-places  here  and  there  upon  the 
walls,  and  niches,  with  and  without  the  remains  of  the 
statues  in  them.  From  these  and  various  other  marks, 
it  was  evident  that  there  had  been  one  spacious  and 
highly-decorated  apartment  in  this  part  of  the  palace. 
Our  conductress  told  us  it  was  the  banqueting  hall. 

We  crept  back  to  our  stair-case,  and  soon  found  our 
way  to  another  part  of  the  palace  where  some  of  the 
floors  remained,  over  which  we  strolled  along  through 
corridors  and  arches,  surveying  the  various  apartments 
as  our  conductress  pointed  out  their  uses.  One  was 
the  great  hall  of  Parliament,  where  the  old  Scottish 
kings  used  to  summon  their  counselors  together,  and 
where,  doubtless,  there  had  been  held  many  a  stormy 
debate.  There  were  remains  of  great  magnificence 
in  the  architectural  decorations  around  the  doors,  win- 
dows, fire-places,  and  upon  the  walls.  Another  apart- 
ment was  the  kitchen,  with  a  most  capacious  fire-place 
— perhaps  ten  feet  by  six — under  the  chimney.  Here 
we  could  stand  and  look  up  into  the  enormous  flue, 

P 


170 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Queen  Mary's  Room.  Wall-flower.  The  loch. 

tapering  gradually  to  a  great  height,  the  gray  stones 
showing  no  marks  that  smoke  had  ever  ascended. 

In  this  manner  we  passed  along  from  one  old  ruined 
hall  to  another,  until  we  came,  at  length,  to  the  western 
side  of  the  palace.  Here  there  was  an  apartment  ot 
which  the  floor  was  entire,  being  built  of  stone,  and 
supported  by  arches.  It  was  covered  with  grass  and 
weeds,  and,  being  open  to  the  sky  above,  was  desolate 
in  the  extreme.  It  was  the  room  in  which  Queen 
Mary  was  born.  Poor  Mary  !  At  the  time  of  her 
birth  her  father  was  dying,  far  away ;  so  that  she  be- 
gan, in  the  very  beginning  of  her  life,  with  that  sad  se- 
ries of  calamities  and  misfortunes  which  followed  her 
to  the  end. 

We  looked  about  upon  the  herbage  upon  the  floor 
for  some  daisies  to  carry  away,  as  memorials  of  our 
visit.  Oar  conductress  brought  us  a  wall-flower,  which 
grew  in  the  crevices  between  the  stones.  We  went 
to  the  window  where,  perhaps,  Mary's  mother  first  held 
the  infant  up  to  see  the  light  of  day,  and  endeavored 
to  awaken  its  senses  to  the  beauties  of  the  outward 
world.  The  window  commanded  a  wide  prospect  ot 
the  loch,  of  the  village,  and  of  the  surrounding  country. 
The  world  must  have  looked  very  lovely  here  to  the 
infantile  eyes  which  gazed  upon  it ;  though  it  clothed 
itself  for  her,  in  the  end,  in  such  somber  colors. 

We  had  a  still  better  view  of  the  lake,  soon  after- 
ward, from  a  sort  of  bow-window  opening  from  a  small 
cabinet,  where  private  interviews  were  granted  by  the 
king.  The  prospect  was  very  lovely,  but  it  had  a  mourn- 
ful expression.  The  loch  seemed  forsaken ;  it  was  very 
small.  It  would,  even  in  America,  have  been  called 
small  as  a  pond,  and  a  part  of  its  surface  was  covered 


LINLITHGOW. 


171 


Miniature  island.  Marmion.  Ascent  to  the  top  of  the  wall. 

with  aquatic  grass  and  rushes.  There  were  swans 
floating  upon  the  water,  and  plunging  their  long  necks 
among  the  sedges.  At  a  little  distance  from  the  shore 
was  a  very  small  island,  covered  with  willows — so 
small  as  to  seem  like  a  little  green  tuft  growing  out  of 
the  water.  On  the  other  side  of  the  loch  there  were 
smooth  green  fields,  sloping  from  a  gentle  elevation 
down  to  the  water's  edge,  with  here  and  there  a  foot- 
passenger  walking  along  the  shore.  It  was  all  beauti- 
ful, well  justifying  the  following  lines  from  Marmion, 
which  are  copied  into  all  the  guide  books : 

Of  all  the  palaces  so  fair, 

Built  for  the  royal  dwelling 
In  Scotland,  far  beyond  compare 

Linlithgow  is  excelling. 
And  in  its  park,  in  genial  June, 
How  sweet  the  merry  linnet's  tune ; 

How  blithe  the  blackbird's  lay  ! 
The  wild  buck  bells  from  thorny  brake, 
The  coot  dives  merry  on  the  lake  ; 
The  saddest  heart  might  pleasure  take 

To  see  a  scene  so  gay. 

Our  conductress  next  directed  us  to  a  stair-case, 
where  she  said  we  might  ascend  to  the  top  of  the  walls, 
at  one  corner  of  the  palace,  where  an  ancient  watch- 
tower  still  remained,  called  Queen  Margaret's  Bower. 
She  herself  remained  below,  and  we,  after  mounting  a 
long  time,  found  ourselves  upon  the  top  of  the  main 
walls.  Here,  though  the  roofs  around  us  were  chiefly 
gone,  there  were  small  platforms  and  ramparts  still  re- 
maining, which  afibrded  us  considerable  space  for  clam- 
bering about.  They  were,  however,  all  covered  with 
vegetation ;  grass,  and  weeds,  and  briers  grew  every 
where.  I  gathered  a  sprig  from  a  wild  rose  which  I 
found  there,  waving  its  tall  branches  in  the  wind. 


172 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Queen  Margaret's  Bower.  Prince  Charles. 

From  one  broad  platform  here,  wider  than  the  rest, 
a  straight  flight  of  steps  led  up  to  the  watch-tower, 
which  was  perched  on  high,  and  appeared  to  have  a 
very  unstable  foundation  upon  such  crazy  waHs,  and 
at  such  a  vast  height,  and  especially  at  a  time  when, 
as  was  then  the  case,  a  very  high  wind  was  blowing. 
There  was  a  modern  iron  railing  on  one  side  of  this 
stair-case,  and  nothing  on  the  other  but  a  fearful  pros- 
pect down  into  the  deep  and  dismal  abysses  which 
yawned  every  where  around  us  among  the  walls  of 
the  palace.  We  ascended,  however,  and  entered  the 
bower.  It  was  a  small  hexagonal  sentry-box,  with  a 
stone  seat  or  step  all  around  it  inside,  and  narrow  win- 
dows or  loop-holes  looking  out  at  each  of  the  six  faces. 
Here,  we  were  told.  Queen  Margaret  watched  for  her 
husband  coming  home  from  the  battle  of  Flodden. 

This  watch-tower,  like  all  the  rest  of  the  palace,  had 
been  mended  by  the  insertion  of  modern  stones,  wher- 
ever it  could  be  strengthened  and  supported  by  such  a 
repair.  On  one  of  these  stones  was  cut  in  letters,  so 
sharp  and  well-defined  as  to  show  them  to  be  of  very 
recent  date. 

His  own  dueen  Margaret,  who  in  Lithgow's  bower 
All  lonely  sat,  and  wept  the  weary  hour. 

When  we  came  down  to  the  court-yard  again  we 
found  that  our  invalid  friend  had  disappeared.  We 
presently  heard  his  voice  on  the  top  of  the  walls,  in  the 
opposite  quarter  from  which  we  had  descended.  We 
talked  with  our  conductress,  until  he  came  down  again, 
about  the  mutilated  and  crumbling  images  and  inscrip- 
tions about  us  on  the  walls,  and  about  her  little  lamb. 
Prince  Charles,  sole  tenant  of  the  palace.  Our  party 
was  soon  all  collected  again,  and  we  came  out  through 


LINLITHGOW. 


173 


Situation  of  the  palace.  Walk  at  sunset 

the  great  gate- way  by  which  we  had  entered,  leaving 
the  fleecy  prince  his  palace  and  his  solitude  ; — the  hum- 
ble, but  beautiful  and  gentle  successor  of  a  long  line  of 
very  rough  and  restless  kings. 

The  palace  stands  upon  a  little  hill,  or  knoll,  between 
the  village  and  the  lake,  so  that  in  leaving  it  we  make 
quite  a  descent  to  return  to  the  town.  There  is  a  sim- 
ilar descent  on  the  three  other  sides  toward  the  water, 
the  swell  of  land  being  a  sort  of  promontory  projecting 
into  the  lake.  The  grounds  on  these  three  sides  are 
varied  with  terraces  and  embankments,  rounded  by 
time,  with  the  remains  of  old  walls  peeping  through 
them  here  and  there.  They  are  shaded,  also,  by  scat- 
tered trees,  ancient  and  venerable.  We  returned  to 
stroll  about  these  grounds  at  sunset.  Every  thing  had 
a  somber  air,  exactly  in  keeping  with  such  a  ruin.  A 
solemn  stillness  reigned  over  the  whole  scene.  The 
green  fields  beyond  the  water,  though  luxuriantly  fer- 
tile, seemed  deserted  and  desolate.  The  swans  looked 
lonely  on  the  lake,  and  the  sound  of  the  wind  in  the 
trees  above  us  had  the  expression  of  a  mournful  sigh. 

Beyond  the  village  on  the  other  side,  opposite  to  the 
palace,  the  great  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow  rail-way  • 
runs  along,  through  a  region  of  fields,  and  groves,  and  , 
modern-built  villas.  A  canal  accompanies  it,  which, 
with  its  basins  of  water,  its  tow-paths  and  bridges,  as- 
sisted to  give  variety  and  beauty  to  the  scenery  pre- 
sented to  view  in  walking  there.  There  are,  however, 
long,  high  walls  and  ranges  of  village  buildings  which 
intercept  the  view  of  these  modern  works  from  the  pal- 
ace and  from  the  village  street.  On  our  return  from 
our  evening  walk  to  the  palace,  we  went  around  the 
P2 


174 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  rums  and  the  rail-way.  A  contrast.  An  ancient  church. 

village,  and  came  home  along  ilie  southern  side,  be- 
tween the  village  and  the  canal.  After  rambling  for 
some  time  in  narrow  lanes,  among  gardens  and  cottages, 
with  now  and  then  a  quaint-looking  church  among  them, 
we  came  to  a  little  bridge,  from  the  top  of  which  we 
could  see,  on  one  side,  the  rail-way  and  the  canal,  with 
all  the  new  and  modern-looking  structures  connected 
with  them — the  gliding  boats,  the  station-houses,  the 
lines  of  telegraphic  wires,  and  the  thundering  trains  of 
cars — and  on  the  other,  the  ancient  village,  and  beyond 
it  the  clustered  walls,  and  towers,  and  spires  of  the 
palace  and  church,  imbosomed  among  the  ancient 
trees  on  the  borders  of  the  water.  How  strong  was 
the  contrast !  The  age  that  is  past  and  the  age  that 
is  to  come  were  visibly  embodied  before  us,  side  by 
side ;  the  chivalry,  the  wars,  the  superstition,  the  ro- 
mantic sorrows  and  sufferings  of  the  one  ;  the  science, 
the  energy,  the  industry,  and  the  comforts  and  con- 
veniences of  the  other ;  and  so  strong  are  the  illusions 
of  the  imagination  in  such  a  case,  that  it  was  hard  to 
resist  the  desire  that  the  rail-way  and  all  its  appur- 
tenances might  disappear  again,  and  the  palace  be  re- 
stored. 

We  remained  in  Linlithgow  over  the  Sabbath.  On 
Monday  morning,  just  before  leaving  town,  I  went  to 
take  a  farewell  view  of  the  palace.  I  did  not  find  our 
conductress  at  her  post,  but  there  was  a  little  girl  there 
whose  province  it  was  to  show  an  ancient  church,  which 
stands  between  the  palace  and  the  village,  where  they 
keep  a  chair  that  Mary  sat  in,  and  the  font  from  which 
she  was  baptized.  I  sent  this  girl  to  find  the  keys  of 
the  palace,  and  in  the  mean  time  I  entered  the  outer 
court-yard  and  went  up  to  the  porch  before  the  main 


LINLITHGOW. 


175 


The  old  soldier.  A  new  guide. 

entrance.  This  porch,  perhaps  about  fifteen  feet  square, 
was  open  in  front,  the  doors  by  which  admission  was 
gained  into  the  building  being  on  the  back  side,  in  the 
hne  of  the  main  wall  of  the  palace.  An  old  man,  evi- 
dently blind,  and  apparently  insane,  was  walking  to  and 
fro,  talking  to  himself  inarticulately.  I  at  first  thought 
him  insane,  but  there  were  two  children,  of  very  ten- 
der years,  seated  at  the  threshold  of  the  porch,  very 
near  him,  and  playing  together  with  such  an  air  of 
confidence  and  safety  as  seemed  to  forbid  the  supposi- 
tion. They  were  pulverizing  little  fragments  of  soft 
stone,  using  a  cavity  in  the  door-sill,  worn  by  footsteps, 
for  a  mortar,  and  pebble  stones  for  pestles.  I  accost- 
ed the  children,  when  the  old  man  immediately  stopped 
in  his  walk,  and  looked,  that  is,  turned  his  head,  to- 
ward me.  I  entered  into  conversation  with  him,  and 
found  him  not  insane,  but  a  sensible  old  soldier.  He 
had  lost  his  eyesight  thirty  years  ago,  in  campaigns 
against  Napoleon  in  Egypt,  "  by  the  opthalmy,"  as  he 
said,  a  disease  which  all  who  have  read  the  histories 
of  those  campaigns  will  remember  prevailed  very 
much  among  the  soldiers  while  marching  over  the 
sands  of  the  desert. 

My  little  messenger  at  length  returned,  but  without 
the  key,  as  she  had  not  been  able  to  find  the  woman 
who  had  it  in  charge.  She  herself,  however,  under- 
took to  show  me  about  the  grounds ;  so  we  passed 
through  an  iron  gate,  and  walked  about  between  the 
palace  and  the  lake,  on  the  open  grounds  which  I  have 
already  described.  These  guides  have  generally  a 
certain  round  of  statements  to  make  to  you,  beyond 
which  they  know  nothing.  All  attempts  to  get  any 
information  beyond  these  limits  are  vain,  resulting  only 


176 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Dialogue  with  tlie  guide.  The  Dry  Wells.  The  Giant's  Grave. 

in  replies,  of  which  my  conversation  with  this  girl  is  a 
pretty  fair  illustration.  I  knew  that  the  land  around 
the  palace,  which,  though  inclosed,  was  still  open  to 
the  public  by  gates  and  stiles,  and  seemed  to  be  a  sort 
of  common,  was  called  the  Peel.  I  asked  the  girl — she 
was  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age — why  they  called 
it  the  Peel. 

"Sir?"  "What  does  Peel  mean?  Why  do  they 
call  it  the  Peel  ?"  "  I  dinna  ken,  sir  ;  they  joost  ca'  it 
the  Peel ;  and  those  hills  across  the  loch  are  the  Glo- 
roran  Hills."  "  Glororan  ?  How  do  they  spell  Gloro- 
ran?"  "  G,  1,  o — I  dinna  ken,  sir,  joost  how  they  spell 
it.  And  that  hoose  yon  is — "  And  so  she  went  on  to 
tell  me  about  the  distant  houses  in  view. 

We  went  round  the  corner  of  the  palace  to  the  north- 
ern side.  There  were  the  remains  of  some  kind  of  a 
structure,  about  twelve  feet  from  the  side  of  the  pal- 
ace, and  three  or  four  detached  arches,  or  flying  but- 
tresses, as  they  are  called,  springing  from  it  over  to 
the  wall  of  building.  As  we  walked  under  these  arch- 
es, my  young  conductress  continued,  in  her  peculiar 
Scotch  accent, 

"  And  this  is  the  Dry  Wells."  "  The  Dry  Wells  !"  I 
replied,  stopping  and  looking  about  in  vain  for  any  ap- 
pearance of  wells.  "  I  do  not  see  any  wells."  "  It's 
joost  the  Dry  Wells."  "  But  why  do  they  call  this  place 
the  Dry  Wells  ?  were  there  ever  any  wells  here  ?"  "  I 
dinna  ken,"  she  said,  going  on  as  if  anxious  to  get  me 
away  from  the  place  ;  "  they  always  ca'  it  joost  the  Dry 
Wells.  And  all  that  green  brae,"  pointing  to  the  east- 
ern slope  of  the  little  swell  of  land  on  which  the  palace 
was  built,  "  is  the  Giant's  Grave."  "  Ah  !  was  there  a 
giant  buried  here  ?"    "  I  dinna  ken,  sir ;  it  is  joost  the 


LINLITHGOW. 


177 


The  Lion's  Den.  A  quiet  scene. 

Giant's  Grave.  And  now  I  will  show  you  the  Lion's 
Den.'' 

When  she  mentioned  a  lion's  den,  I  thought  I  had 
now  found  a  subject  on  which  she  would  have  some- 
thing more  to  say  than  merely  to  repeat  a  name  ;  for 
if  any  thing  would  awaken  the  curiosity  and  interest  of 
a  child,  it  would  be  this.  But  I  found  it  was  all  the 
same.  She  led  me  along  the  top  of  a  broad  wall. 
The  top  was  covered  with  grass  and  weeds,  through 
which,  however,  there  was  a  well-worn  foot-path.  At 
the  end  of  this  path  we  came  to  a  round  cavity  like  a 
well,  walled  up  from  the  surface  of  the  ground.  We 
looked  down  into  this  cavity,  which  was  ten  or  twelve 
feet  deep  ;  my  guide  saying,  in  the  same  tone  as  before, 
"  And  this  is  the  Lion's  Den." 

"  The  Lion's  Den !"  I  replied.  "  I  think  you  must  have 
made  a  mistake.  This  must  be  one  of  the  dry  wells." 
"  Na,  sir,  na ;  it  is  joost  the  Lion's  Den  ;  and  down  at 
the  bottom  there  is  a  sma'  hole  in  the  wa',  where  the 
boys  can  creep  in  and  out."  "  Indeed !  Well,  it  is  a 
curious  place  ;  do  you  suppose,  now,  they  ever  kept  a 
lion  here  ?"  "  I  dinna  ken,  sir ;  it  is  joost  the  Lion's 
Den." 

I  rambled  about  a  little  longer,  but  the  hour  was  ap- 
proaching for  my  departure  by  the  Glasgow  train,  and 
I  was  obliged,  though  very  reluctantly,  to  leave  the 
scene.  The  water  of  the  lake  was  calm  and  smooth. 
The  morning  air  was  still.  The  old  gray  and  crum- 
bling walls  seemed  to  repose  calmly  in  the  summer's 
sun.  Every  thing  was  beautiful ;  but  the  mind  was 
continually  recurring  to  the  mournful  story  of  Mary's 
life,  and  vainly  endeavoring  to  form  a  picture  of  her 
infantile  form  reposing  in  her  mother's  arms,  and  look- 


178 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Mary.  Force  of  association. 

ing  out  upon  the  lake  and  the  meadows.  As  you  say 
to  yourself,  these  are  the  very  fields,  and  this  the  very 
lake  that  she  saw,  and  here,  over  our  heads,  is  the  very 
window  from  which  she  saw  them,  the  whole  landscape 
assumes  a  melancholy  expression.  The  fields  look  sad, 
the  lake  forsaken,  and  even  the  venerable  trees  seem 
deserted  and  lonely.  Poor  Mary !  Her  memory 
spreads  a  sad  and  somber  atmosphere  over  every 
scene  connected  with  her  name. 


THE  HIGHLANDS. 


179 


The  Highlanda.  Lochs.  How  they  are  reached. 


LETTER  X. 

ENTRANCE  INTO  THE  HIGHLANDS. 

August  18, 

In  the  western  part  of  Scotland  there  is  an  extended 
mountainous  region,  intersected  by  numerous  lakes  and 
by  deep  bays  from  the  sea,  which  allures  a  great  num- 
ber of  tourists  by  its  wild  and  picturesque  scenery. 
This  district  has  the  name  of  the  Western  Highlands. 
Among  its  numerous  sheets  of  water  there  are  two 
lakes  more  celebrated  than  the  rest.  Loch  Lomond  and 
Loch  Katrine.  Loch  Lomond  is  easily  accessible  from 
Glasgow,  and  Loch  Katrine  from  Edinburgh.  The 
passage  across  from  one  to  the  other  is  not  more  than 
four  or  five  miles  in  length,  but  it  is  through  a  glen  so 
wild,  and  by  a  road  so  rough  and  steep,  as  to  be  im- 
practicable for  regular  coaches.  The  tourists  who 
wish  to  visit  these  Highlands  can  set  out  from  Edin- 
burgh or  Glasgow,  and  reach  one  or  the  other  of  these 
lakes  by  a  very  pleasant  drive,  and  pass  along  the  lake, 
whichever  one  they  have  reached,  by  a  still  more 
pleasant  sail  in  the  little  steam-boat  which  plies  upon 
it;  and  then  they  have  to  go  as  they  can,  by  droskies, 
ponies,  or  on  foot,  across  from  one  lake  to  the  other. 

Loch  Katrine,  as  will  be  seen  from  a  map,  is  at  right 
angles  to  Loch  Lomond,  and  its  extremity  is  nearly 
opposite  to  the  middle  of  the  latter  lake.  The  steamer 
passes  up  and  down  through  the  whole  length  of  Loch 
Lomond,  stopping  each  way  to  take  in  the  passengers 
who  come  across  the  glen  from  Loch  Katrine.  Our 
party  entered  the  Highlands  from  the  Edinburgh  side. 
Our  plan  was  to  go  through  Loch  Katrine  and  the 


180 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Valley  of  the  Forth.  Stirling  Castle.  Callander. 

glen,  until  we  reached  Loch  Lomond,  and  to  form  our 
subsequent  arrangements  after  our  arrival  there. 

We  traveled  from  Edinburgh  very  leisurely  up  the 
valley  of  the  Forth,  as  broad  and  beautiful  and  rich  a 
valley  as  the  imagination  can  conceive.  Distant  mount- 
ains, drawing  gradually  nearer  and  nearer  together  as 
we  approached  the  head  of  the  valley,  bound  the  view 
to  the  north  and  south.  Between  these  mountains  is  a 
broad  and  luxuriantly  fertile  district,  in  some  parts 
level,  and  in  others  gently  undulating,  covered  with 
cottages,  gardens,  parks,  villas,  and  plantations  of  trees, 
which  continually  vary  the  scene  and  present  every 
where  new  pictures  of  peace  and  plenty. 

The  town  and  castle  of  Stirling  stand  on  a  rocky 
hill,  which  rises  like  an  island  from  the  middle  of  this 
scene  of  fertility  and  beauty.  We  can  see  the  gray 
towers  and  battlements  of  the  fortress  crowning  its 
summit  for  twenty  miles  around.  We  spent  a  few 
hours  in  rambling  about  the  castle  itself,  and  over  the 
long  gravel-walks  winding  about  the  declivities  of  the 
hill,  and  then  took  our  seats  upon  the  outside  of  the 
coach  and  went  on.  We  rode  at  a  hand -gallop,  over 
a  smooth  and  level  road,  for  twenty  miles  further,  when 
we  reached  what  seemed  to  be  the  head  of  the  valley. 
The  mountains,  which  had  been  drawing  nearer  and 
nearer,  now  ahnost  entirely  hemmed  us  in.  We  ended 
the  ride  by  driving,  just  after  sunset,  into  a  long  street 
of  cottages,  with  walls,  some  gray,  others  white,  and 
roofs  either  thatched  or  tiled.  The  doors  and  side- 
walks, and,  in  fact,  half  the  street,  were  all  filled  with 
the  cottagers,  and  their  wives  and  children,  enjoying 
the  evening  air. 

At  the  end  of  the  village  was  the  inn.    Dark  mount- 


THE  HIGHLANDS. 


181 


The  inn.  Boy  guide.  The  Gaelic  girls. 

ains  rose  behind  it  and  around  it  on  all  sides.  In  front, 
in  the  center  of  the  valley,  flowed  a  small  river,  mean- 
dering its  way  toward  the  fertile  plains  through  which 
we  had  been  traveling.  We  dismounted  from  our  high 
seats  and  entered  the  inn ;  and,  after  getting  possession 
of  our  quarters  for  the  night,  we  sallied  forth  to  take  a 
walk,  and  see  a  waterfall  not  far  off"  among  the  mount- 
ains. 

We  walked  first  back  through  the  village,  taking  a 
boy  fi'om  the  inn-door  for  a  guide.  We  turned  off 
from  the  street  at  last,  and  began  to  ascend,  by  a  rough 
bridle-path,  up  one  of  the  lower  slopes  of  the  mount- 
ains behind  it.  The  land  was  destitute  of  trees,  but  it 
was  covered  with  dense  herbage,  which  gave  it  a  smooth 
and  not  uninviting  appearance.  We  had  not  proceed- 
ed far  before  we  met  two  young  girls  who  were  com- 
ing down  from  the  pastures  above.  They  were  bare- 
footed, but  in  other  respects  were  comfortably  enough 
dressed.  They  answered  my  salutation,  as  we  passed 
them,  first  in  English,  and  then  in  some  words  which  I 
did  not  understand.  I  asked  our  little  guide  what  they 
had  said.  **  Oh,"  replied  he,  "  only  '  Very  well,  I  thank 
you,  sir,'  in  Gaelic."  "  Ah  !"  said  I,  "  do  they  speak 
Gaelic?"  "Yes, sir,"  said  the  boy;  and  then,  address- 
ing the  girls,  who  had  now  come  near  to  us,  and  were 
looking  up  with  bright  and  beaming  faces,  he  added, 
"  Sing  the  gentlemen  a  Gaelic  song."  "  Yes,"  said  I, 
"  let  us  hear  it ;  sing  away." 

The  children  looked  as  if  they  were  all  ready  to  sing 
at  the  boy's  invitation ;  but  they  did  not  begin  until  it 
was  ratified  by  mine.  The  instant,  however,  that  my 
words  were  uttered,  they  dashed  together  at  once  into 
the  song.    Their  voices  were  clear  and  full ;  the  air 

Q 


182 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  Gaelic  song.  An  excursion.  A  joyous  party. 

was  simple,  but  very  spirited  and  expressive,  and  re- 
quired a  rapid  enunciation  of  the  vt^ords,  which  they 
articulated  with  great  distinctness,  and  in  most  perfect 
time.  While  singing,  they  turned  away  a  little,  from 
an  instinctive  modesty,  so  as  to  avert  their  faces  from 
us  ;  but  as  soon  as  their  song  was  over,  they  turned  to 
us  again,  and  looked  up  with  countenances  beaming 
with  an  expression  of  satisfaction  and  enjoyment,  and 
answered  all  our  questions  frankly  and  without  fear. 

We  gave  them  a  penny  a  piece,  and  asked  them  to 
go  on  with  us  to  the  waterfall.  They  very  readily  ac- 
cepted the  invitation,  and  kept  with  us  for  the  remain- 
der of  the  excursion,  running  to  and  fro,  leaping  over 
the  brooks,  pursuing  each  other  around  the  tufts  of 
heather,  laughing,  singing,  and  caroling  like  birds  all 
the  way.  We  were  joined  afterward  by  two  more, 
who  with  the  boy  made  five,  all  under  twelve  years  of 
age,  who  seemed  to  talk  Gaelic,  laugh  Gaelic,  and  sing 
Gaelic  all  the  way.  The  distance  was  a  mile  and  a 
half ;  and  what  with  their  running,  and  jumping,  and 
unnecessary  clambering,  and  pursuing  each  other  in 
endless  circles  and  figures  of  eight,  they  expended 
strength  enough  for  four  times  such  a  distance,  and 
yet  appeared  to  have  just  as  much  strength  and  elas- 
ticity at  the  end  as  at  the  beginning.  They  amused  us 
all  the  way  by  their  quaint  answers  to  our  questions — 
their  simplicity,  combined  with  quickness  and  intelli- 
gence, and  by  their  boundless  and  irrepressible  glee. 

It  was  nearly  dark  before  we  reached  the  waterfall. 
We  found  a  deep  chasm,  with  sides  ragged  and  irreg- 
ular, and  made  picturesque  by  a  growth  of  trees  which 
were  just  numerous  enough  to  adorn,  without  conceal- 
ing, the  features  of  the  scene.    We  scrambled  down 


THE  HIGHLANDS. 


183 


Falls  of  Brachlinn.  Rustic  bridge.  The  coach. 

half  way  by  a  rough  and  irregular  path.  Below  this 
the  chasm  became  a  fissure,  or,  rather,  a  congeries  oi 
fissures,  extremely  broken  and  irregular.  At  a  nar- 
row part  of  this  fissure  three  small  logs  had  been  placed 
across  it,  fifty  feet,  it  was  said,  above  the  water ;  and 
short  boards  were  nailed  across  the  logs,  to  walk  upon 
— far  enough,  however,  from  each  other  to  allow  of  a 
full  view,  through  the  wide  crevices,  of  the  foaming  tor- 
rent below.  Two  poles  for  a  railing  completed  this 
rustic  bridge. 

We  went  across  it,  though  I  thought  the  passage  re- 
quired some  courage  in  the  lady  of  our  party.  We 
clambered  along  the  rocks  upon  the  other  side,  until  we 
reached  a  projecting  shelf — a  sort  of  Table  Rock — be- 
low the  fall,  where  we  looked  around  upon  a  scene  ex- 
tremely wild,  and  which  would  have  been  desolate  and 
gloomy  had  it  not  been  for  the  glad  and  merry  voices 
of  our  Gaelic  children,  who  climbed  about  the  rocks, 
and  ran  up  and  down  the  declivities  in  ceaseless  ac- 
tivity and  joy. 

The  next  morning  at  nine  o'clock  we  found  our- 
selves seated,  with  a  dozen  other  passengers,  in  an  open 
car  before  the  inn  door,  ready  to  continue  our  journey 
up  the  valley,  which  becomes,  from  this  point,  a  nar- 
row glen.  The  covered  coach  goes  no  further.  In 
fact,  as  almost  every  one  who  visits  these  Highland 
regions,  does  it  for  the  purpose  of  enjoying  the  views 
of  the  scenery,  the  passengers  would  not  ride  inside  a 
coach  if  the  opportunity  were  offered  them.  After  a 
great  deal  of  arranging  and  adjusting  of  persons  and 
baggage,  we  set  oflT,  strangers  to  one  another,  yet  all  ob- 
viously in  pursuit  of  the  same  purpose,  as  almost  everv 


184 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Mountain  scenery.  Tourists  and  showers.  The  Trosachs. 

one  had  a  guide-book,  or  a  map,  or  a  copy  of  the  Lady 
of  the  Lake  in  his  hands.  The  mountains  on  each  side 
of  the  way  were  dark  and  beautiful,  wooded  below, 
and  covered  on  their  higher  decUvities  with  a  thick 
growth  of  heather  and  ferns,  which  gives  them  a 
splendid  velvet-like  clothing,  variegated  with  the  richest 
shades  of  brown  and  green.  The  sun  and  the  clouds 
threw  the  shadows  across  these  slopes  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  exhibit  their  changing  forms,  and  vary  con- 
tinually their  aspects  as  we  advanced  up  the  glen.  At 
last,  however,  one  of  these  mountain  clouds,  darker 
than  the  rest,  sent  us  down  a  shower.  Guide-books 
and  n.aps  immediately  gave  place,  by  a  very  sudden 
transformation,  to  cloaks  and  umbrellas.  The  shower 
lasted  as  long  as  it  continued  to  be  amusing,  and  then 
the  sun  came  out  again,  and  the  umbrellas  went  down. 
In  the  mean  time,  through  rain  an.d  through  sunshine, 
the  horses  cantered  on,  up  hill  and  down,  over  a  road 
exti'emely  narrow,  but  extremely  beautiful  and  smooth. 
There  were  scarcely  any  human  habitations  to  be  seen, 
excepting  here  and  there  a  little  hamlet  of  half  a  dozen 
ancient  cottages  of  stone,  with  brown  walls  and  green 
roofs,  made  green  by  the  waving  grass  which  grew 
upon  the  ancient  thatching. 

The  road  which  we  were  traveling  passes  along  the 
shores  of  two  small  lakes,  and  at  the  end  of  the  second 
one,  called  Loch  Achray,  it  enters  into  a  narrow  and 
most  romantic  gorge  through  the  mountains,  called  the 
Trosachs.  In  the  middle  of  the  gorge,  which  is  about 
two  miles  from  its  commencement,  the  road  is  suddenly 
terminated  by  a  sheet  of  water,  which  fills  the  whole 
breadth  of  the  glen,  from  rock  to  rock,  on  either  side. 
This  is  the  commencement  of  Loch  Katrine.  There 


THE  HIGHLANDS. 


185 


Loch  Katrine.  Ardchcanoclirochan  Inn.  Scenery. 

has  been  a  narrow  path-way  hewn  out — in  some  places 
enth'ely  out  of  the  solid  rock — along  one  of  the  shores 
of  Loch  Katrine ;  but  for  all  purposes  of  traveling,  the 
road  terminates  at  the  loch,  and  a  little  steamer  comes 
there  to  receive  the  travelers.  There  is,  however,  no 
place  for  an  inn  at  the  landing.  The  nearest  conven- 
ient place  for  a  human  dwelling  is  at  the  other  entrance 
to  the  gorge,  where,  in  a  very  picturesque  and  beau- 
tiful situation,  is  a  refuge  for  travelers,  known  among 
the  Highlanders,  and  marked  upon  the  maps,  as  the 
ArdcJieanochrochan  Inn.  As  this,  however,  is  a  name 
which  none  but  a  Highlander  can  pronounce,  the  inn  is 
commonly  known  among  tourists  as  the  Trosachs  Inn. 
Those  who  wish  to  stop  at  this  pass  make  this  inn 
their  home.  Others  go  on  through  the  pass  to  the  land- 
ing, and  enter  the  steamer  at  once,  which  is  there  about 
the  time  of  their  arrival.  If  the  coach  arrives  first,  the 
passengers  climb  about  the  rocks,  and  walk  along  the 
shores,  if  the  weather  is  fine  ;  and  if  it  rains,  as  it  gen- 
erally does  among  these  mountains,  they  seek  shelter 
in  an  old  stone  boat-house,  and  sit  wretched  and  for- 
lorn, on  planks  or  spars  lying  there,  and  wishing  that 
they  were  comfortably  at  their  own  homes  again. 

We  were  to  stop  at  the  inn,  at  the  entrance  to  the 
pass.  It  was  in  a  very  romantic  situation.  There 
was  a  beautiful  garden  before  it,  inclosed  with  stone 
walls.  The  inn  itself  was  built  substantially  of  stone, 
and  consisted  of  a  square  edifice  flanked  by  a  large 
round  tower,  so  that  it  looked  quite  like  a  castle.  There 
was  a  large  porch  before  the  door,  completely  envel- 
oped and  concealed  with  ivy  and  other  climbing  plants. 
Around  and  behind  the  house  there  was  a  little  village 
of  cottage-like  buildings,  with  walls  covered  with  ivy, 

Q2 


180 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Pass  of  the  Trosachs.  Benan  and  Benvenue. 

and  roofs  thatched,  some  of  them  arranged  around  a 
sort  of  court-yard,  in  which  various  foreign-looking 
carriages  were  standing.  High  mountains  rose  be- 
yond ;  and  there  was  a  deep  ravine,  through  which  a 
large  brook  came  tumbling  down  the  rocks  behind  the 
inn,  and  then,  turning  to  one  side,  passed  across  the 
road  under  an  arched  bridge.  In  front,  beyond  the 
road,  w^ere  green  fields  where  the  hay-makers  were  at 
w^ork,  and  beyond  the  fields  the  little  Loch  Achray, 
already  spoken  of,  was  spread  out  before  us,  with 
wooded  banks,  and  a  road  winding  under  the  clifTs, 
along  its  margin. 

The  inn  is  a  sort  of  general  rendezvous  for  tourists, 
and  parties  are  continually  arriving  and  setting  off,  of 
every  rank  and  grade,  from  students  traveling  on  foot, 
w^ith  their  knapsacks  on  their  backs,  to  noblemen  in 
sumptuous  carriages,  and  with  liveried  attendants.  The 
pass  of  the  Trosachs  is  one  of  the  most  famous  passes 
in  Scotland,  and,  in  fact,  it  is  not  unworthy  of  its  fame. 

We  walked  and  rode  several  times  through  the  pass 
from  the  inn  to  the  steam-boat  landing  on  the  lake. 
The  road  winds  between  the  steep  and  rugged  mount- 
ains, generally  among  forests,  w^here  woodmen  were 
at  w^ork  cutting  down  trees  which  had  been  marked 
for  this  purpose.  As  you  approach  the  lake,  the  glen 
becomes  more  wild,  and  the  mountains  more  precipi- 
tous and  more  lofty.  Loch  Katrine  commences  be- 
tween two  of  the  loftiest  peaks,  called  Benvenue  and 
Benan.  Benvenue  is  an  enormous  mass,  clothed  with 
a  dense  covering  of  heather  and  ferns,  w^hich  gives  to 
its  furrowed  surface  a  very  rich  and  soft  expression, 
and  makes  it  extremely  beautiful  when  the  sun  shines 
obliquely  along  its  sides.    Benan  is  like  Benvenue,  ex- 


THE  HIGHLANDS. 


187 


Showers.        Roderic  Dhu'a  Tower.        Ellen's  Isle.         The  little  steamer. 

cept  that  a  great  conical  and  rocky  peak  towers  up- 
ward at  its  summit.  The  reader  must  not  understand 
that  Benan  and  Benvenue  are  single  and  isolated  mount- 
ains. These  names  mark  only  the  highest  points  of 
great  ranges,  between  which  the  waters  of  Loch  Ka- 
trine, winding  tortuously,  insinuate  themselves,  as  far 
as  to  the  middle  of  the  ravine  which  separates  the 
mountains  from  each  other. 

We  left  the  inn  in  sunshine.  When  we  reached  the 
lake  the  mountains  were  enveloped  in  clouds,  and  we 
were  driven  into  the  boat-house  by  showers  of  rain. 
Half  an  hour  afterward  we  were  climbing  up  the  prec- 
ipices on  one  side  of  the  lake,  looking  down  upon  its 
dark  waters  far  below  us,  and  quoting  the  Lady  of  the 
Lake,  of  which  this  end  of  the  loch  was  the  scene. 
Roderic  Dhu's  Watch-tower  is  a  rocky  hill,  a  sort  of 
spur  from  Benvenue,  rising  some  hundred  feet  from  the 
margin  of  the  water,  on  the  southern  side.  Around  a 
promontory  is  an  island  called  Ellen's  Isle,  which  tour- 
ists often  visit  in  boats  kept  for  the  purpose  by  boat- 
men belonging  to  the  inn.  These  boats  have  a  very 
picturesque  appearance  in  such  a  wild  spot,  as  we 
looked  down  upon  them  at  one  time  from  the  little  em- 
inences at  the  foot  of  Benan,  to  which  we  had  ascend- 
ed, and  where,  reclining  on  the  soft  heather,  we  could 
survey  the  magnificent  scene  around  us  in  comfort  and 
at  our  leisure.  The  steam-boat  came  in  at  that  time, 
too,  and,  after  lying  fifteen  minutes  so  close  under  the 
cliffs  at  our  feet  as  to  be  entirely  hidden  by  them,  and 
filling  the  valley  with  the  blasts  of  her  steam,  she  came 
forth  into  view  again,  and  paddled  away  with  her  dozen 
passengers,  under  the  rocks  and  around  the  promonto- 
ries, until  she  was  lost  to  sight  beyond  Ellen's  Isle. 


188 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Variable  weather.  The  portage.  Rains  in  the  Highlands. 

We  embarked  the  next  day  on  board  this  little  ves- 
sel. It  was  the  smallest  steamer  I  ever  saw  afloat. 
It  was,  in  fact,  an  open  boat,  long  and  narrow,  with  a 
little  engine  in  the  center,  and  seats  around  the  sides. 
It  is  true,  there  was  a  sort  of  canvas  canopy  over  the 
seats  in  the  stem,  with  windows  in  the  sides,  but  there 
were  no  decks,  except  a  partial  one  about  the  engine, 
where,  perhaps,  ten  persons  might  stand.  The  cylin- 
der was  of  fourteen  inches  diameter,  and  about  two 
feet  stroke ;  but  it  performed  its  work  very  well,  and 
carried  us  rapidly  along,  sometimes  through  sunshine, 
sometimes  through  misty  clouds,  which  came  rolling 
down  upon  us  from  the  declivities  of  the  mountains, 
and  sometimes  through  pouring  showers  of  rain. 

At  length  we  landed,  and  then  commenced  the  jour- 
ney over  the  portage  to  Loch  Lomond.  Some  of  the 
company  set  ofl*  briskly  to  walk,  with  knapsacks  on 
their  backs,  or  bags  strapped  to  their  sides ;  others 
mounted  ponies  ;  and  others,  forming  parties  for  this 
purpose,  got  into  droskies,  a  sort  of  two-seated  gig ; 
and  thus  w^e  set  forth,  a  very  miscellaneous-looking 
procession,  traveling  forlorn  and  disconsolate  through 
mud  and  rain. 

The  results  of  weather  records  which  have  been 
kept  in  the  Western  Highlands  show  that  it  rains,  on 
an  average,  two  days  out  of  three  throughout  the  year. 
It  is  true  that  the  proportion  is  greater  in  the  winter 
than  in  the  summer  months  ;  but  in  the  summer  months, 
according  to  our  experience,  it  rains  about  two  days 
out  of  four  ;  and  all  travelers  visiting  these  regions 
ought  to  take  this  into  the  account  beforehand,  for  then 
the  evil  is  much  more  easily  borne.  Nor  is  it,  in  fact, 
altogether  and  wholly  an  evil.    A  mountainous  e'en 


THE  HIGHLANDS. 


189 


Mists  and  vapors.  Absence  of  dwellings. 

has  a  wild  and  sublime  expression  when  storms  are 
driving  through  it,  entirely  different  from  that  which 
it  possesses  when  in  sunshine  and  repose.  Sometimes 
a  mass  of  mist,  advancing  slowly,  brings  out  to  view 
new  forms  and  new  outlines,  as  it  cuts  off  in  succession 
those  which  were  more  remote,  or  shades  them  differ- 
ently from  those  that  are  near,  thus  giving  a  depth  and 
a  distance  to  the  back-ground  of  the  picture  which 
would  not  otherwise  have  been  seen.  Sometimes  a 
black  cloud  hangs  lowering  over  a  dark  gorge  in 
the  mountains,  concealing  the  summits  from  view,  but 
heightening  the  sublimity  of  the  scene  by  adding  its 
own  gloom  to  that  of  the  fearful  ravine  over  which 
it  reposes.  At  one  moment  our  attention  is  attracted 
by  a  white  cloud,  lying  like  a  cap  upon  the  summit  of 
a  lofty  peak ;  and  at  another,  by  great  masses  of  va- 
por scudding  swiftly  along  the  face  of  a  declivity,  or 
reposing  quietly  in  the  bosom  of  some  elevated  glen^ 
where  they  increase  rapidly  for  a  time,  with  signs  of 
great  internal  commotion,  and  then  as  rapidly  melt 
away  and  disappear. 

We  observed  these  phenomena,  which  continued  to 
present  themselves,  with  intervals  of  sunshine  and 
brightness,  as  we  rode  through  the  glens.  .  We  were 
surprised  to  see  how  destitute  they  were  of  human 
dwellings.  Not  only  here,  but  in  all  the  other  High- 
land valleys  which  we  afterward  visited,  the  land  seem- 
ed almost  entirely  destitute  of  inhabitants.  In  attempt- 
ing to  conceive  of  one  of  these  glens,  the  reader  must 
dismiss  from  his  mind  all  ideas  taken  from  New  En- 
gland scenes  :  the  hills  covered  with  forests  ;  the  cheer- 
ful "  openings"  of  the  settlers ;  the  inclosed  fields  and 
pnstiires;  and  the  group  of  barns  and  sheds  about  the 


190 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Scenery  in  the  glens.  The  old  woman  in  the  but 

farmer's  dwelling.  Instead  of  all  this,  you  must  im- 
agine a  great  valley  many  miles  in  extent,  but  all  na- 
ked and  open  to  your  unobstructed  view  ;  the  steep 
and  lofty  declivities  on  each  side  covered  with  a  rich, 
smooth,  and  soft  carpet  of  grass  and  heather,  over 
which  are  thinly  scattered  the  sheep  and  the  cattle,  to 
which  man  has  every  where  given  way.  Along  in  the 
bottom  of  the  valley  runs  a  smooth  but  very  narrow 
road.  You  pass  here  and  there  a  solitary  hut  of  stone, 
with  a  few  small  patches  of  cultivation  around  it. 
There  is  sometimes  a  second  hut  for  a  cow-house,  but 
as  often,  perhaps,  one  roof  covers  both  the  cotter  and 
his  cow.  You  meet  no  cart  or  team  in  the  road,  and 
no  farmer's  wagon.  There  are  tourists  and  sports- 
men, some  on  foot,  some  in  private  carriages,  and  some 
in  the  mail-coaches  and  in  cars.  Here  and  there  you 
come  to  an  inn,  with  several  cottages  in  its  neighbor- 
hood ;  and  when  you  enter  it,  you  are  surprised  to  find 
how  well  they  can  supply  you  with  the  comforts  and 
elegances  of  life.  In  fact,  the  whole  land  is  given  up 
to  sheep,  and  cattle,  and  grouse,  and  to  sportsmen  and 
tourists,  the  sole  occupation  of  the  cottagers  being  to 
take  care  of  the  one,  and  that  of  villages  to  provide  for 
the  other. 

I  stopped  at  one  of  the  huts  I  have  described.  It 
was  the  residence,  my  drosky  driver  told  me,  of  an  old 
woman  more  than  seventy  years  of  age,  who  lived  there 
alone,  dependent  on  the  parish  for  her  support.  She 
had  company  while  I  was  there,  a  neighbor  having 
called  in  to  see  her.  I  call  her  a  neighbor,  though  I 
think  the  nearest  house  was  a  mile  distant.  The  old 
lady  had  a  cow,  and  I  called  for  a  glass  of  milk.  There 
was  but  one  room  in  the  hut,  though  a  portion  of  it  was 


THE  HIGFILANDS. 


191 


Interior  of  a  hut.  Fall  of  the  Highland  chieftaina, 

divided  off  by  tattered  curtains  for  a  bed-room.  It  was 
very  dark  within,  and  every  thing  was  blackened  by 
smoke.  The  fire  was  on  a  stone  upon  the  floor  ;  there 
was  a  small  kettle  over  it,  held  by  a  chain  which  was 
supported  at  the  upper  end  by  three  poles,  forming  a 
sort  of  tripod  over  the  fire.  What  became  of  the  smoke 
above  I  do  not  recollect  to  have  observed. 

Many  travelers  are  much  surprised,  in  first  visiting 
the  Highlands,  at  finding  so  thin  a  population,  and  so 
few  traces  of  the  ancient  Highland  manners.  We  form 
our  ideas  from  histories  and  tales,  which  refer  to  a  pe- 
riod now  a  hundred  years  gone  by,  and  are  surprised 
not  to  find  these  conceptions  now  realized.  The  High- 
landers continued  under  their  chieftains,  and  organized 
as  clans,  until  about  a  century  ago,  when  the  British 
crown  passed  from  the  house  of  Stuart  to  the  house  of 
Hanover.  The  clans  resisted  this  change,  and,  conse- 
quently, came  into  conflict  with  the  English  Parlia- 
ment. Their  attempt  to  support  the  Stuarts  was  final- 
ly put  down,  in  so  far  as  military  operations  were  con- 
cerned, at  the  great  battle  of  CuUoden,  near  Inverness, 
in  the  North  of  Scotland  ;  and,  to  prevent  a  renewal 
of  such  contests,  the  English  government  passed  laws, 
from  time  to  time,  the  eflfect  of  which  was  first  to  de- 
stroy the  jurisdiction  of  the  chiefs,  and  then  to  deprive 
them  of  their  wealth  and  consideration  in  their  clans, 
and,  finally,  to  bring  in  other  persons  as  purchasers 
and  grantees  of  the  lands,  until  the  whole  system  was 
changed,  and  it  lives  now  only  in  lingering  memories  oi 
the  past,  and  in  song.  The  clans  are  all  intermingled 
and  scattered  ;  the  chieftains  are  nearly  forgotten  ;  the 
dress  is  seldom  seen,  except  as  a  sort  of  spectacle  on 
occasions  of  ceremony ;  and  the  whole  population  have 


192 


SUMMER   IN  SCOTLAND. 


Tourists.  Sportsmen.  Grouse  shooting. 

become  the  shepherds  and  herdsmen  of  EngUsh  and 
Scotch  proprietors,  or,  rather,  of  the  tacksmen,  who  hire 
the  grazing  of  the  land.  Many  things  make  it  a  striking 
and  interesting  region  to  visit.  The  smoothness  of  the 
roads,  the  abundance  of  conveyances,  the  comforts  of 
the  inns,  and  the  strange  wildness  of  the  scenery,  all  con- 
spire to  fill  the  country,  every  summer,  with  tourists  of 
every  degree — from  the  queen  who  penetrates  far  into 
the  land  on  the  lochs  by  her  royal  yacht,  to  the  student 
who  walks  from  glen  to  glen,  with  his  knapsack  on  his 
back,  and  his  guide-book  or  his  spy-glass  strapped  to 
his  side. 

The  sportsmen  constitute  another  class  who  visit 
these  regions  in  clouds.  The  hills  and  moors  are  cov- 
ered with  a  sort  of  bird  somewhat  similar  to  the  par- 
tridge, called  the  grouse.  The  right  to  shoot  them  is 
reserved  by  the  proprietor,  generally,  for  his  own  use, 
or  that  of  his  friends  ;  or,  if  he  lets  it,  it  is  generally  to 
some  different  party  from  the  one  who  "  takes  the  graz- 
ing." The  twelfth  of  August  is  the  day  for  the  shooting 
to  commence;  before  that  time  it  is  prohibited  by  law. 
When  the  day  approaches,  large  numbers  of  the  gentry 
from  the  south  flock  northward,  with  dogs  and  guns,  to 
be  ready  "  to  take  the  moor"  the  moment  the  shield  of 
parliamentary  protection  over  the  poor  birds  is  with- 
drawn. The  proprietor  of  an  estate  builds  for  his  ac- 
commodation, during  the  shooting  season,  a  sort  of 
summer-house,  called  a  shooting-box.  This  dwelling  is 
furnished  with  all  sorts  of  implements  of  hunting  and 
fishing,  and  constitutes  the  place  of  repose  for  the  party 
at  night,  and  their  refuge  in  storms.  Some  of  these 
hunting-boxes  are  very  plain  and  primitive  structures  ; 
others  are  spacious  and  costly ;  but  all  are  arranged 


THE  HIGHLANDS. 


193 


Shooting-boxes.  Contrasts. 

and  furnished  in  a  wild  and  rustic  style,  in  order  that 
the  noble  occupants  may  find  in  them,  for  a  few  sum- 
mer weeks,  a  spirited  and  piquant  contrast  to  the  ele- 
gances, refinements,  and  splendors,  with  the  sight  of 
which  they  become  satiated  and  tired  during  the  rest 
of  the  year,  in  their  castles  and  halls  in  the  country, 
and  in  their  gay  saloons  in  London. 

R 


194  SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 

A  Loch  Lomond  Inn.  The  bay  and  landing. 


LETTER  XI. 

LOCH  LOMOND. 

August  19. 

The  reader  must  imagine  me  seated  in  a  very  little 
chamber  in  the  garret  of  an  ancient  stone  cottage,  call- 
ed Rowerdennan  Inn.  The  room  is  approached  by  a 
rude  stone  stair-case  on  the  outside  of  the  building. 
Half  of  the  floor  of  the  room  is  occupied  by  two  beds, 
placed  head  to  head,  opposite  to  the  door.  The  roof 
inclines  each  way,  leaving  only  a  narrow  place  in  the 
center  where  one  can  stand  upright.  In  one  of  these 
sloping  sides  there  is  a  sliding  window  of  two  panes, 
under  the  light  of  which  I  am  writing.  The  house  is 
in  the  middle  of  a  small  tract  of  smooth  and  fertile  land, 
and  is  surrounded  with  little  gardens,  fields,  trees,  and 
cottage-like  looking  sheds  and  barns — the  whole  lying 
on  the  shore  of  Loch  Lomond.  There  is  a  little  bay, 
with  a  winding  sandy  beach,  bordered  by  rocky  points 
and  promontories.  A  broad  foot-path  leads  from  the 
rude  stone  pier,  which  projects  from  this  beach  into  the 
water,  up  to  the  inn.  As  I  stand  at  the  door  of  my 
chamber,  I  see  the  smooth  surface  of  the  lake  spread 
out  before  me,  and  dark  mountains  towering  all  around 
till  they  are  lost  in  misty  clouds.  We  are  told  that  we 
are  at  the  foot  of  Ben  Lomond ;  but  the  clouds  have 
drawn  a  veil  over  all  the  lofty  peaks  around  us,  as  if 
to  withdraw  them  for  a  time  from  view,  in  order  to 
give  the  more  humble  summits  their  share  of  attention 
and  honor. 

We  came  in  sight  of  Loch  Lomond  at  about  the  mid- 
dle of  its  length,  by  the  way  of  a  high  mountain  pass 


LOCH  LOMOND. 


195 


The  drosky.  Rain.  A  disagreeable  walk. 

from  the  eastward.  When  we  arrived  at  the  end  of 
this  pass  we  looked  down  from  it  to  the  lake,  which 
was  spread  before  us  far  below,  in  the  bottom  of  a  long 
and  narrow  valley.  We  were  traveling  in  a  drosky, 
which  is  a  sort  of  open  car  with  two  seats.  Heavy- 
clouds  and  mists  were  rolling  along  the  glen,  and 
hanging  upon  the  declivities  of  the  mountains,  bring- 
ing out  to  view,  however,  rather  than  concealing  their 
forms,  by  revealing  one  outline  after  another  as  they 
moved  along.  The  scene  was  very  picturesque,  but 
very  uncomfortable  ;  for  the  rain  poured  down  at  in- 
tervals in  merciless  torrents,  from  which  our  umbrel- 
las afforded  very  ineffectual  protection.  The  magnifi- 
cent prospect,  hawever,  of  the  lake,  and  of  the  dark 
and  deep  valley  in  which  it  was  reposing,  was  render- 
ed more  sublime  by  the  grand  and  gloomy  effect  pro- 
duced by  the  clouds  and  showers. 

Travelers  riding  in  the  rain,  however,  are  general- 
ly much  more  interested  in  the  prospect  of  an  inn  than 
in  prospects  of  the  picturesque ;  and  we  were  chiefly 
pleased  with  the  lake's  coming  into  view,  on  account 
of  our  expectation  of  finding  shelter  down  upon  the 
shore  of  it.  It  was  but  a  quarter  of  a  mile  further 
down  the  hill,  and  we  were  congratulating  ourselves 
with  the  thought  that  our  discomforts  for  the  day  were 
over,  when  the  drosky  stopped,  and,  on  inquiring  what 
was  the  matter,  our  Highland  coachman  told  us  that 
we  could  not  ride  any  further.  The  road  down  to  the 
shore  was  too  steep  for  wheels  to  descend.  As  we 
had  a  lady  in  charge,  not  much  accustomed  to  rough- 
ing it,  this  was  not  very  agreeable  news.  There  was, 
however,  no  help,  and,  umbrellas  in  hand,  we  descend- 
ed a  very  steep  and  slippery  road  for  a  long  and  tire- 


196 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Inversnaid.  A  waterfall.  The  Loch  Lomond  steamer. 

some  way,  which,  at  least,  helped  us  to  realize  how 
deep  is  the  vast  ravine  at  the  bottom  of  which  the  dark 
waters  of  Loch  Lomond  lie. 

We  found  the  inn  at  a  moderate  elevation  from  the 
beach,  on  a  sort  of  shelf  of  land,  surrounded  by  forests, 
and  overtopped  by  the  steep  declivity  which  we  had 
descended ;  and  with  nothing  to  enliven  its  absolute 
solitude  but  a  great  cascade,  which  came  foaming  and 
tumbling  down  a  rocky  glen  by  its  side.  As  I  have 
before  stated,  Loch  Lomond  extends  from  north  to 
south.  The  point  at  which  we  had  approached  it  was 
near  the  middle  of  the  eastern  side.  We  expected  a 
steam-boat  to  come  up  the  loch  from  the  southward, 
and  there  were  twenty  or  thirty  wet  and  weary  tour- 
ists like  ourselves  awaiting  its  arrival  ;  some  drying 
themselves  at  the  kitchen  fire ;  some  standing  upon  a 
little  lawn  in  front  of  the  inn  watching  for  the  boat ; 
and  some,  regardless  of  the  rain,  were  rambling  about 
upon  the  shore,  or  leaping  from  rock  to  rock  at  the  foot 
of  the  waterfall.  The  stream  was  swollen  by  the  rain, 
and  the  cataract  formed  quite  an  imposing  spectacle. 

At  length  the  little  steamer  came  gliding  into  view 
around  a  prominent  point  of  land  across  the  lake,  its 
last  landing-place,  before  coming  for  us,  having  been 
upon  the  other  side.  Our  company  moved  down  to- 
ward the  shore,  followed  by  porters  loaded  with  lug- 
gage. The  trunks  and  carpet-bags  were  put  on  board 
a  boat  which  .was  lying  at  a  rustic  pier.  The  passen- 
gers crowded  in  after  the  luggage,  the  ladies  taking 
their  seats  in  the  stern,  and  the  gentlemen  standing  as 
they  could,  wherever  the  trunks  and  the  oarsmen  left 
them  room.  In  this  condition  we  pushed  off  slowly 
toward  the  steamer,  which  inclined  toward  the  shore 


LOCH  LOMOND. 


197 


Tourists.  The  saloon.  The  raised  deck. 

to  receive  us.  We  drew  up  alongside  ;  we  exchang- 
ed a  boat-load  of  embarking  for  a  boat-load  of  landing 
passengers,  the  steam-pipe  keeping  up  a  deafening 
noise  through  the  whole  transaction,  as  if  the  engine 
were  impatient  of  delay.  The  boat  pushed  off;  the 
steam-pipe  was  hushed ;  the  paddle-wheels  recom- 
menced their  revolutions,  and  we  found  ourselves  ush- 
ered into  a  new  and  peculiar  scene. 

The  steamer  was  small,  and  was  evidently  con- 
structed especially  for  the  accommodation  of  tourists 
who  travel  to  see.  There  was  a  narrow  saloon,  occu- 
pying the  whole  length  of  the  boat,  behind  the  engine, 
as  wide  as  a  rail-road  car,  and  twice  as  long.  There 
were  hair-cloth  seats  all  around  the  sides  of  the  saloon, 
and  a  table  at  one  end,  which,  so  far  as  it  extended, 
filled  up  the  whole  interior.  This  little  saloon  was  all 
the  boat ;  the  structure  not  being  large  enough  to  allow 
of  either  a  deck  above  or  a  cabin  below.  It  had  win- 
dows along  the  sides,  from  which,  in  rainy  weather,  the 
tourists,  shut  up  within,  could  look  out  upon  the  mists 
and  clouds  driving  along  the  declivities  of  the  mount- 
ains, between  which  the  narrow  loch  lies  imprisoned. 

There  was,  however,  a  little  raised  deck  further  for- 
ward, with  seats  around  it  sufficiently  capacious,  per- 
haps, to  accommodate  a  party  of  twenty.  This  plat- 
form, being  higher  than  most  other  parts  of  the  boat, 
aflforded  a  fine  view  of  the  loch  and  of  the  adjacent 
shores ;  and  the  settees  upon  it  were  generally  well 
filled  with  gazers,  both  in  sunshine  and  rain. 

In  this  boat  I  afterward  made  several  voyages  on 
the  lake,  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  series  of 
views  which  its  shores  present  constitute  a  very  ex- 
traordinary spectacle.    As  it  first  strikes  the  eye,  one's 

R  2 


198 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Scenery  of  the  loch.  The  shores.  Landings. 

impression  is  that  the  loch  is  simply  a  long  and  nar- 
row sheet  of  water,  bordered  by  lofty  mountains  which 
rise  abruptly  from  the  w^ater's  edge,  and  are  endlessly 
varied  in  contour,  but  all  clothed  to  their  summits  with 
a  rich,  soft,  and  velvet-like  covering  of  deep  green  and 
brown.  The  whole  scene,  though  inexpressibly  beau- 
tiful and  grand,  seems  at  first  an  absolute  solitude.  On 
a  more  careful  inspection,  however,  we  perceive  that 
the  shores  are  more  distant  than  we  at  first  imagined, 
and  that  there  is  a  border  near  the  water,  where  there 
are  glimpses  here  and  there  of  a  smooth  and  cultivated 
field,  and  now  and  then  a  cottage.  And  when,  in  conse- 
quence of  some  curvature  in  the  direction  of  the  loch, 
our  course  lies,  for  a  few  minutes,  nearer  than  usual  to 
the  shore,  we  can  distinguish  a  road  winding  along,  not 
far  from  the  beach,  with  a  carriage  alternately  appear- 
ing and  disappearing  among  the  trees ;  and  scattered 
sheep  and  herds  of  cattle  come  into  view,  grazing, 
sometimes  at  great  heights,  on  the  declivities  of  the 
mountain. 

The  steamer,  in  the  mean  time,  advances  in  a  zigzag 
direction  from  one  side  of  the  loch  to  the  other,  to 
touch  at  points  where  ravines,  running  off  at  right 
angles  to  the  shore,  open  a  way  for  a  road  to  some 
other  loch  or  distant  glen.  Where  such  ravines  open 
upon  the  shore,  there  will  generally  be  a  little  tract  ot 
cultivated  land,  with  a  landing  and  an  inn,  and  perhaps 
an  old  stone  cottage  or  two  besides.  The  entire  ab- 
sence, however,  of  all  indications  of  business  or  traffic 
at  these  points  seems  very  strange  to  American  eyes. 
The  wharf  is  always  a  mere  rustic  pier  for  foot  passen- 
gers to  land  upon  from  a  boat.  The  only  goods  re- 
ceived or  landed  are  aristocratic-looking  trunks,  port- 


LOCH  LOMOND. 


199 


A  seeming  solitude.  Walk  along  shore.  Peasant  girl. 

manteaus,  and  bonnet-boxes ;  and  the  travelers  are 
all  tourists  in  search  of  the  picturesque,  with  maps, 
spy-glasses,  and  guide-books  in  their  hands,  and  hav- 
ing, in  all  respects,  the  air  of  a  party  of  pleasure.  There 
is,  in  fact,  no  business,  as  there  seems  to  be  no  local 
population.  The  few  faint  traces  of  the  presence  of 
man  along  the  shores  have  to  be  sought  out  with  scru- 
tiny and  care.  To  the  general  view  the  whole  scene 
appears  a  wild,  but  rich  and  luxuriant  solitude,  which 
must  be  beautiful  in  sunshine,  and  certainly  is  sublime 
when  enveloped,  as  we  saw  it,  in  clouds  and  storms. 

From  one  of  the  landings  above  described,  where  I 
stopped  to  spend  the  night,  I  strolled  out  after  dinner, 
that  is,  just  in  the  edge  of  the  evening,  to  take  a  walk 
along  the  shore.  The  narrow  strip  of  habitable  land, 
which  was  scarcely  to  be  perceived  from  on  board  the 
steamer,  expanded,  when  I  came  to  walk  upon  it,  into 
a  broad  region  of  fields  and  groves,  from  which  some- 
times neither  the  mountain  on  one  side  nor  the  lake  on 
the  other  could  be  seen.  At  a  little  distance  from  the 
inn,  I  overtook  a  peasant  girl  very  neatly  dressed.  She 
had,  what  was  a  little  unusual,  a  bonnet  on  her  head, 
and  she  carried  a  basket  and  an  umbrella  in  her  hands. 
As  I  came  up  to  her,  just  after  crossing  a  brook  which 
came  tumbling  down  from  the  mountains  in  a  foaming 
cascade,  and  was  here  crossing  the  path  on  its  way  to 
the  loch,  I  observed  that  she  had  stopped,  and  was 
stooping  down,  as  if  doing  something  about  her  feet. 
I  at  first  walked  slowly,  to  give  her  time  before  I  should 
approach,  but  she  continued  intent  in  her  stooping  pos- 
ture, and  I  began  to  imagine  that  some  accident  might 
have  happened  to  her  foot.  I  asked  her  if  any  thing 
was  the  matter ;  and  she  replied,  very  naively,  that 


200 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Shoes  and  stockings.  A  burn  to  cross. 

"there  was  na'  ony  thing  the  matter,"  she  was  only 
"taking  off  her  shoes  and  stockings  because  they  hurt 
her  feet."  The  road  was  very  rough  "  a  Httle  further 
alang,"  and  she  could  "  gang  better  barefoot." 

This  mode  of  facilitating  one's  passage  over  a  rough 
and  stony  road  was  somewhat  new  to  me.  Without, 
however,  concluding  to  adopt  it  myself,  I  waited  a  mo- 
ment for  her,  and  we  walked  along  together.  She  an- 
swered all  my  numerous  questions  about  her  condition 
and  mode  of  life  with  great  frankness  and  propriety, 
but  yet  with  the  utmost  modesty  and  delicacy  of  be- 
havior. We  came  at  length  to  a  little  stream,  broad 
though  shallow,  which  flowed  across  the  path.  "  Dear 
me,"  said  I,  "  what  shall  I  do  now  ?  I  can  not  get 
across  this  water." 

"  Na,"  said  she,  "ye  canna  get  across  here  ;  but  stay, 
I'll  pit  a  stane  for  ye." 

She  walked  through  the  water  very  composedly,  and 
placed  stepping-stones  for  me,  after  which  we  went  on 
again  together. 

Our  path  led  us  sometimes  close  along  the  shore, 
sometimes  a  little  further  back,  through  fields  of  oats 
and  grain,  and  sometimes  through  groves  of  trees  plant- 
ed by  the  proprietor.  The  scene  was  every  where 
beautiful ;  and,  though  we  sometimes  lost  sight  both  of 
the  loch  and  of  the  mountain,  we  were  never  out  of 
hearing  of  the  waves  dashing  upon  the  beach  of  the 
one,  or  of  the  cascades  descending  the  declivities  of 
the  other.  At  last,  after  following  the  path  diagonally 
up  a  gentle  slope,  with  a  field  of  oats  above  and  below, 
we  came,  at  the  top  of  the  declivity,  to  an  ancient  High- 
land cottage,  with  gray  stone  walls  and  thatched  roof 
A  woman,  very  neatly  dressed,  and  with  a  very  Intel- 


LOCH  LOMOND. 


201 


Highland  cottage.  Occupants.  Interior. 

ligent  and  even  handsome  countenance,  stood  at  the 
door.  Two  or  three  of  her  children  were  near  her. 
One  of  them  was  a  beautiful  Httle  girl  of  seven,  with 
her  hair  hanging  in  curls  upon  her  neck,  and  arranged 
in  a  manner  to  show  that  maternal  pride,  as  well  as 
other  human  instincts,  might  flourish  in  a  Highland  cot- 
tage. My  good-natured  conductress  was  going  fur- 
ther. I  accordingly  bade  her  good-by,  and  stopped 
myself  at  the  cottage  door. 

After  some  minutes'  conversation  with  the  mother 
and  her  child,  on  the  great  flat  stone  which  served 
both  for  step  and  platform,  I  was  invited  to  walk  in 
and  rest  myself.  I  readily  accepted  the  invitation. 
The  room  was  very  small,  and  I  had  to  stoop  to  enter. 
A  pet  lamb,  full  grown,  a  dog,  and  a  kitten  ran  out  as 
1  went  in.  The  floor  was  of  flat  stones  embedded 
roughly  in  the  ground.  There  was  no  chimney,  though 
there  was  a  fire  in  the  back  part  of  the  room,  built 
against  a  large  square  stone,  placed  there  to  sustain  it. 
There  was  a  rough  sort  of  ceiling  overhead,  formed  of 
poles  laid  close  together  from  the  top  of  the  wall  on 
one  side  to  the  other.  Directly  over  the  fire  there  was 
a  large  square  opening  in  this  ceiling,  through  which 
most  of  the  smoke  from  the  fire  disappeared,  but  what 
became  of  it  above  I  could  not  see.  Down  through 
this  opening  a  chain  descended,  and  a  kettle  was  hung 
from  it  over  the  fire.  The  fire  itself  was  made  of  small 
dry  sticks  which  the  boys  in  America  would  have  de- 
spised as  materials  for  even  a  bonfire. 

In  conversation  with  my  hostess,  I  remarked  very 
freely  on  every  thing  I  saw,  comparing  the  arrange- 
ments of  her  cottage  with  the  corresponding  particu- 
lars in  dwellings  of  a  similar  class  in  America.    I  told 


202 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Conversation.  The  sick  child.  Plan  for  an  ascent. 

her  of  houses  made  of  logs,  of  the  capacious  fire-places, 
and  of  the  great  piles  of  wood  heaped  up  before  the 
farmer's  doors  for  the  supply  of  their  winter  fires.  I 
told  her  that  in  many  parts  of  America  the  forests  were 
so  abundant  that  the  trees  were  cut  down  and  destroy- 
ed to  get  them  out  of  the  way,  adding,  that  I  supposed 
that  here  they  were  not  allowed  to  cut  the  trees.  "  Na, 
na,"  she  replied,  "  we  dare  na  coot  a  tree.  We  should 
be  driven  oot  of  the  land  entirely,  and  be  fined  forby." 

The  children  had  the  hooping-cough.  The  boy,  five 
or  six  years  of  age,  ran  to  cling  to  his  mother  during 
the  paroxysms  of  coughing,  and  looked  timidly  at  the 
stranger,  and  turned  his  head  away  from  all  my  at- 
tempts to  win  his  confidence  with  precisely  the  air  and 
manner  of  a  sick  child  on  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut 
or  the  Androscoggin.  The  mother,  too,  had  lost  one 
child  not  long  before,  and  she  stated  the  fact  to  me 
with  the  same  tones  of  voice,  and  received  my  expres- 
sions of  interest  and  sympathy  with  the  same  indica^ 
tions  of  gratification  and  pleasure,  as  are  prompted  by 
the  maternal  heart  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  show- 
ing that,  whatever  differences  there  may  be  in  other 
things,  disease  and  death  are  every  where  the  same. 

On  my  return  to  the  inn,  which  seemed,  now  that 
the  evening  had  come  on,  very  solitary  and  still,  I  met 
a  young  gentleman,  who  had  apparently  just  arrived. 
We  fell  into  conversation,  and  finally  made  an  arrange- 
ment to  ascend  Ben  Lomond  together  the  next  morn- 
ing, if  the  weather  should  prove  favorable.  He  was 
obliged,  he  said,  to  leave  the  place  at  half  past  eleven 
by  the  steamer,  which  was  to  pass  at  that  hour  ;  and,  in 
order  to  be  able  to  return  from  our  excursion  at  that 
time,  we  found  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  set  out 


LOCH  LOMOND. 


203 


Morning.  Guide.  Peculiarity  of  Scotch  mountains. 

very  early.  We  finally  separated,  and  retired  for  the 
night,  after  nnaking  an  arrangement  with  the  waiter  to 
be  called  at  half  past  five,  "  if  the  weather  was  fine." 

I  awoke,  or,  rather,  half  awoke  at  five,  and  hoped 
that  it  was  raining.  On  listening,  I  found  that  it  was 
not  actually  raining,  but  the  wind  was  whistling  through 
the  crevices  in  my  little  sky-light  window,  as  described 
at  the  commencement  of  this  letter,  with  a  very  omin- 
ous sound.  To  make  sure  of  my  right  to  go  to  sleep 
again  in  peace,  I  rose  and  looked  out.  The  sky  was 
half  covered  with  clouds,  but  they  "  had  lifted"  from 
the  mountains,  and  a  fresh  wind  was  blowing  down 
the  loch,  rippling  and  darkening  the  surface  of  the  wa- 
ter. A  cloudy  cap  was  resting  on  one  of  the  peaks  in 
view,  indicating  a  storm.  Nevertheless,  the  summons 
came.  We  took  a  hasty  breakfast,  and,  following  our 
guide,  we  commenced  our  ascent. 

Ascending  mountains  is  pretty  much  the  same  thing 
in  all  countries,  excepting  Scotland.  Scotland  is  pe- 
culiar in  this  respect,  viz.,  that,  after  leaving  the  narrow 
region  of  fields  and  farms  which  lie  in  the  valleys,  there 
are  never  forests,  or  even  trees,  to  confine  the  view,  and 
yet  every  mountain  side  and  every  glen  is  clothed  with 
as  rich  a  verdure  and  beauty  as  any  forest  can  give.  In 
all  the  mountains  around  me,  as  I  sit  writing  these  par- 
agraphs on  the  landing  of  the  stairs  by  which  I  ascend 
to  my  little  garret-chamber,  there  is  not  a  rock  or  a 
stone  to  be  seen.  A  soft,  rich  cushion  of  green  and 
brown  covers  the  whole,  beautifully  variegated  with 
the  different  shades  of  verdure,  which  grass  and  heath- 
er in  their  various  combinations  assume,  and  by  the 
changes  of  light  and  shade  produced  by  the  undulating 
surface,  and  by  the  movement  of  the  clouds. 


204 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  ascent.  View  from  Ben  Lomond.  The  "  three  things." 

As  we  ascended  the  low^er  declivities  of  Ben  Lo- 
mond we  had  these  views  presented  to  us  in  every  di- 
rection. We  soon  began  to  look  down  upon  the  lake. 
Our  inn  was  seen,  with  its  yards  and  gardens,  in  a  lit- 
tle dell,  a  gentle  swell  of  land  lying  between  it  and  the 
loch.  There  was  the  little  bay,  too,  extending  up  near 
to  the  inn,  with  the  winding  beach,  and  the  boats  drawn 
up  upon  the  sand,  or  moored  to  the  little  pier.  As  we 
rose  higher  the  whole  southern  half  of  the  loch  came 
gradually  into  view,  expanding  wide,  and  dotted  with 
islands  ;  and  the  northern  part,  narrow,  dark,  and  deep, 
and  hemmed  in  with  lofty  mountain  slopes  of  the  richest 
green  on  either  hand.  My  companion  asked  the  guide 
where  the  floating  island  was,  and  quoted  to  me  an  old 
Highland  saying  about  Loch  Lomond,  that  it  was 

'Tamous  for  three  things  : 
Waves  without  winds, 
Fish  without  fins, 
And  an  island  that  swims." 

There  were  various  opinions  about  the  fish  alluded 
to  in  this  ancient  distich.  Some  thought  it  referred  to 
one  animal,  and  some  to  another.  The  guide  insisted 
that  it  was  "  a  kind  of  sarpent,  half  the  length  of  my 
stick — a  strriped  kind  of  baste,  swimming  through  the 
wather."  The  floating  island  was  only  a  bank  of  sand 
which  was  covered  with  something  green  in  summer, 
but  was  submerged  in  winter  when  the  water  is  high. 
By  thus  disappearing,  and  afterward  returning  to  its 
place,  it  obtained  the  credit,  in  ancient  days,  of  some- 
times floating  away.  As  to  the  waves  without  winds, 
the  guide  insisted  that  such  a  phenomenon  was  often 
witnessed.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  in  that  part  of 
the  distich  there  is  more  of  rhyme  than  reason,  though 
not  much  of  either. 


LOCH  LUMONU. 


205 


The  caim.  The  lost  lady.  Flocks  on  the  mountains. 

Stopping  occasionally  to  talk  about  such  things  as 
these,  we  slowly  ascended,  opening  new  glens,  and 
bringing  new  lochs  and  new  mountain  summits  contin- 
ually into  view.  We  reached,  at  length,  the  brow  of 
a  broad  projection  from  the  mountain  range,  where 
our  attention  was  attracted  by  a  heap  of  stones,  a  sort 
of  rude  monument,  such  as  is  often  made  in  the  Scot- 
tish Highlands  to  commemorate  any  remarkable  event 
of  mere  local  interest.  Such  a  structure  is  called  a 
cairn.  This  cairn  was  built  in  memory  of  a  young 
American  lady's  adventure  in  spending  a  night  upon 
the  mountain  here  alone.  Our  guide  told  us,  that  in 
coming  down  the  mountain  the  party  stopped  here  to 
rest.  The  young  lady  rambled  away  a  short  distance, 
and  before  she  returned,  the  others,  supposing  that  she 
had  gone  on,  proceeded  after  her,  but,  not  finding  her, 
they  returned  to  their  resting-place,  and  made  diligent 
search  all  around  it.  A  mist  came  on,  and  the  young 
lady  got  completely  bewildered  and  lost.  Guides  and 
shepherds,  summoned  from  below,  spent  all  night  in 
the  search,  but  she  was  not  found  until  the  morningr, 
when  they  discovered  her  in  a  sad  condition  of  ex- 
haustion and  terror,  in  the  midst  of  a  bog,  and  entan- 
gled among  the  rocks  and  heather. 

We  found  sheep  scattered  over  all  the  declivities  of 
the  mountains,  even  to  the  very  summits.  They  be- 
long to  a  tenant  who  leases  all  the  land  for  miles  up  and 
down  the  loch  from  the  duke  who  holds  it  as  proprie- 
tor. This  tenant  leases  the  cottages  and  the  small 
fields  about  them  to  the  cotters,  making  of  the  rest  a 
great  grazing  farm,  which  he  stocks  with  sheep,  and 
manages  through  the  cotters,  whom  he  employs  as 
shepherds  and  laborers.    The  guide  beguiled  the  way, 

S 


206  SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 

A  grand  view.  The  summit. 


as  we  slowly  toiled  up  the  mountain,  by  explaining  to 
us  how  the  shepherds  managed  the  flocks  ;  how  often 
they  came  up  the  mountains  to  see  them ;  and  how  oft- 
en, and  for  what  purposes,  they  collected  them  together. 
As  we  passed  on  in  this  way  from  height  to  height,  the 
views  in  every  direction  extended  until  we  had  almost 
a  third  part  of  all  Scotland  under  our  eye.  Off  to  the 
south  was  Arthur's  Seat,  which  we  had  climbed  at  Ed- 
inburgh, and  between  it  and  us  there  lay  the  broad  val- 
ley which  we  had  been  traveling  for  so  many  days. 
There  was  Stirling  Castle,  rising  on  its  rocky  hill  from 
the  midst  of  verdant  fields  and  meadows,  like  a  fortress 
on  an  island.  There  were  the  lakes,  whose  shores  our 
road  for  the  last  two  days  had  skirted ;  and  near  us  Ben 
Venue  and  Ben  An,  in  the  midst  of  fifty  other  similar 
peaks,  lifted  their  dark-green  heads  to  the  skies. 

At  length  we  approached  the  summit.  Very  near 
the  highest  point  was  a  hut  built  by  a  corps  of  sappers 
and  miners  in  the  British  service,  who  occupied  the 
mountain  for  some  time  as  a  station  for  a  trigonomet- 
rical survey.  There  was  a  large  cairn  on  the  very 
summit,  built  so  substantially  that  the  traveler  might 
mount  to  the  top  of  it  in  pleasant  weather,  and  thus  add 
some  dozen  feet  to  the  elevation  of  his  point  of  view. 
The  weather  was  very  pleasant  for  us.  The  cool  breeze 
of  the  morning  had  died  entirely  away ;  the  air  was 
calm  and  serene,  and  the  rocky  and  moss-covered  sum- 
mit seemed  to  smile  in  the  rays  of  the  summer's  sun. 
The  atmosphere  was  unusually  transparent.  "Ye  can 
see,"  said  the  guide,  "  a  long  distance  the  day.  There 
are  a  few  clouds  high,  but  they  dinna  hinder  the  see- 
ing.   Ye  have  a  very  nice  kind  of  a  view  the  day." 

The  guide  delivered  the  usual  lecture  on  geography 


LOCH  LOMOND. 


207 


Source  of  the  Forth.  The  frightened  sheep.  The  distant  steamer. 

in  pointing  out  and  naming  the  various  lochs,  and  peaks, 
and  castles,  and  towns  which  were  visible  from  the 
summit,  and  then  laid  down  upon  the  moss-covered 
rocks  to  rest  and  sleep,  while  we  wandered  about  at 
our  leisure  and  surveyed  the  scene. 

My  companion,  who  was  a  Scotchman  from  the  Low- 
lands, was  very  much  interested,  as,  in  fact,  I  myself 
also  was,  in  looking  down  a  vast  precipice  on  the  north- 
ern side  of  the  mountain,  where,  in  the  bottom  of  a  deep, 
dark  glen  a  little  stream  meandered  to  and  fro  among  the 
moss  and  heather.  We  could  see  the  httle  spring  where 
it  issued  from  the  ground,  and  could  trace  its  course, 
gradually  enlai'ging  as  it  advanced,  for  many  miles  : 
it  was  the  River  Forth,  the  stream  whose  broad  estua- 
ry, north  of  Edinburgh,  forms  the  harbor  for  half  the 
commerce  of  Scotland.  Loch  Lomond  was  on  the  oth- 
er side,  and  far  off*  at  the  southern  end  of  it,  among  the 
islands  which  there  covered  its  surface,  we  could  dis- 
tinguish a  small,  dark  spot,  with  a  little  tuft  of  cloudy 
vapor  floating  above  it :  it  was  the  steamer  commenc- 
ing its  voyage  up  the  lake.  The  tourists  on  the  little 
raised  platform  upon  its  deck  were  probably  gazing 
upon  the  peak  where  we  stood,  though  unable,  at  that 
distance,  to  distinguish  even  the  lofty  cairn  which 
crowned  its  summit.  We  rolled  stones  down  the  prec- 
ipices, until  far  beneath  us  we  saw  a  sheep  bounding 
out  to  a  projecting  shelf  of  rock,  and  then  gazing  up  at 
us  with  an  attitude  and  look  expressive  of  astonish- 
ment at  our  recklessness.  After  this  reproof,  we  occu- 
pied ourselves  with  the  more  harmless  amusements  of 
studying  the  geological  character  of  the  rocks,  and  gath- 
ering the  small  and  delicate  white  flowers  which  we 
found  here  and  there  in  the  short  grass,  to  preserve  be- 


208  SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 

The  descent.  "  Ta  quaich."  A  wedding. 

tween  the  leaves  of  our  guide-books  as  souvenirs  of 
the  ascent  of  Ben  Lomond. 

On  coming  down  the  mountain,  we  met,  perhaps  a 
mile  from  the  summit,  another  party  ascending.  They 
were  mounted  upon  ponies,  and  had  stopped  at  a  spring 
to  rest  and  to  refresh  themselves  with  a  drink.  The 
lady  of  the  party  looked  a  little  anxidus  and  fearful. 
We  endeavored  to  dispel  her  apprehensions  by  stating, 
what  was  true,  that  she  would  find  the  path  smoother 
and  better  for  the  remainder  of  the  way.  They  drank 
from  my  silver  quaich,  which  the  guide  admired,  say- 
ing it  was  "  a  very  braw  one,"  and  then  passed  on.  In 
resuming  our  own  march,  we  attempted  to  ascertain 
from  our  guide  what  was  the  plural  of  the  word  quaich, 
which  is  Gaelic.  At  first  it  was  difhcult  to  make  him 
understand  the  question,  being  probably  not  much  ac- 
customed to  trouble  his  head  with  philological  inquiries 
among  these  mountain  solitudes.  "  What  is  the  plural 
of  quaich,  guide  ?"  said  we. 

"  He  did  na  ken  ;  he  did  na  exactly  understand." 

"  Why,  suppose  there  were  two  of  them,"  said  my 
Lowland  companion, holding  up  the  quaich:  "suppose 
there  were  two  of  these,  what  would  you  say  ?" 

"  Oh,  ta,"  replied  the  guide  ;  "  joost  ta" 

"  Yes,  ta  is  two  ;  but  what  be  the  other  word  ?  ta 
quaichs  V 

*'  Na,  na,  joost  ta  quaich.  There's  na  s  till  it.  Ye 
see  the  Gaelic  is  different  a'  thegither.  Ye  wad  na  be- 
lieve how  different  it  is,  enless  ye  understood  it." 

As  we  continued  our  descent,  Donald  told  us  that 
there  was  to  be  a  wedding  across  the  loch  that  after- 
noon, and  that  he  was  to  be  "  best  man,"  that  is,  grooms- 
man.   The  bride  and  bridegroom  lived  together  down 


LOCH  LOMOND. 


209 


Invitation  to  the  wedding.  The  wedding  party. 

the  lake,  on  this  side,  and  the  minister  some  miles  down 
the  other.  The  minister  was  to  come  up  to  a  little  inn 
across  the  water,  and  the  bridal  party  were  to  come  up 
and  cross  in  boats,  thus  meeting  the  minister  half  way. 
With  a  little  encouragement  on  our  part,  the  guide 
gave  us  an  invitation  to  go  to  the  wedding.  The  Low- 
lander  afterward  made  some  inquiries  at  the  inn,  and 
found  that  there  would  be  nothing  unusual  or  improper 
in  our  accepting  the  invitation.  So  we  ordered  an 
early  dinner  as  soon  as  we  arrived  at  the  inn,^  and  pre- 
pared ourselves  to  join  the  wedding  party  immediately 
afterward. 

We  were  notified  of  the  approach  of  the  cortege  by 
the  discharge  of  a  gun.  On  going  out  into  the  yard, 
we  found  a  large  party  of  peasant-like  looking  men  and 
women,  all  neatly  dressed,  and  standing  quietly  in  the 
road-way  which  passed  behind  the  inn.  They  were 
in  two  groups,  the  bride  being  the  center  of  attraction 
in  the  one,  and  the  bridegroom  in  the  other.  The 
"  best  man"  and  his  assistants  were  carrying  about  a 
small  waiter  with  three  or  four  wine-glasses  upon  it, 
filled  with  whisky.  Each  of  the  company  took  a  glass, 
and  drank,  sometimes  a  small  part,  and  sometimes  the 
whole ;  w^hile  the  bearer  of  the  w^aiter  continually  re 
plenished  the  glasses  from  a  bottle  which  he  carried  in 
his  hand.  The  whole  scene  was  enlivened  now  and 
then  by  the  report  of  the  musket,  which  was  borne  by 
a  young  man  of  seventeen,  and  discharged  from  time 
to  time,  at  his  discretion. 

The  company  soon  afterward  moved  toward  the 
beach.  The  bride's  party  went  first,  and  the  bride- 
groom and  his  company  followed  at  a  considerable  in- 
terval.   They  embarked  in  two  difierent  boats,  placing 

S2 


210 


SUMMER   IN  SCOTI.AND. 


Crossing  the  loch.  Dancing  reels. 

W5,  that  is,  my  Lowland  companion  and  myself,  in  very 
honorable  seats,  near  to  the  bride.  The  Lowlander  en- 
tered with  all  his  heart  into  the  gayety  of  the  occasion, 
talking  in  their  dialect,  and  in  precisely  their  tone,  now 
teazinof  the  bride  about  "  her  mon,"  who  was  comincj 
on,  as  if  in  brisk  pursuit,  in  a  boat  behind,  and  now  at- 
tempting to  make  a  new  match  between  the  bridesmaid, 
who  was  one  of  the  chambermaids  of  our  inn,  and 
Donald,  the  groomsman,  our  mountain  guide.  This 
last  plan,  however,  did  not  seem  to  succeed  ;  the  brides- 
maid declaring,  with  a  countenance  of  mingled  pleas- 
ure and  confusion,  that  she  would  not  agree  to  any 
such  plan.  He  endeavored  to  overcome  her  objections 
by,  "  Ye  surely  canna  refuse  such  a  canny  lad  as  he. 
I  can  recommend  him  till  ye.  We  ken  him  weel.  He 
guided  us  up  Ben  Lomond  the  morning." 

At  length  we  landed.  At  a  little  distance  from  the 
beach  was  a  building,  half  ferry-house,  half  inn,  where 
we  were  to  meet  the  minister.  We  went  into  one  of 
the  rooms  of  this  house,  and  took  our  seats  in  chairs  all 
around  the  sides  of  it.  After  a  few  minutes  a  fiddler 
came  in,  and  four  of  the  company  took  their  places 
upon  the  floor  to  dance  a  reel.  The  belles  wore  their 
boimets,  and  the  beaux  enforced  the  emphatic  passages 
of  the  music  with  a  loud  clapping  of  hands,  and  some- 
times with  a  sort  of  sudden  outcry,  which  appeared  to 
me  like  any  thing  but  an  expression  of  gayety  and  joy. 
After  the  first  dance  was  over,  they  came  to  us  and 
insisted  on  our  leading  off  the  second  reel.  On  my 
representing  to  them  that  I  was  entirely  unacquainted 
with  the  Scotch  dances,  being  a  foreigner,  and  that,  of 
course,  I  should  only  throw  them  into  confusion  if  I  at- 
tempted to  join  them,  they  kindly  excused  me,  but  my 


LOCH  LOMOND. 


211 


False  alarm.  The  tacksman.  The  minister. 

companion  took  his  place  at  once,  and  performed  his 
part  much  to  their  admiration.  One  after  another 
came  and  sat  by  me,  to  gaze  upon  and  praise  his  per- 
formance ;  though  I  think  that  his  triumph  was  due  in 
part  to  the  Hghtness  of  his  footing,  as  he  was  laden 
only  with  ordinary  traveling  boots,  which  appeared 
very  light  and  graceful,  in  contrast  with  the  heavy, 
iron-guarded  shoes  of  the  Highlanders.  The  dance 
continued  for  some  time,  until  suddenly  an  arm,  belong- 
ing-to  somebody  outside  the  house,  was  thrust  in  at  the 
open  window,  toward  "  the  musicianer,"  as  they  called 
him,  with  a  "  Hush !  he's  coming  r  The  music  stop- 
ped. The  dancers  ran  to  their  seats  ;  and  the  room 
was  instantaneously  still.  This  sudden  pause,  how- 
ever, ended  in  a  burst  of  laughter,  as  it  proved  to  be  a 
false  alarm.  The  arrival  was  not  that  of  the  minister, 
but  of  the  "  tacksman."  This  is  the  name  given  to  the 
great  farming  tenant,  who  leases  the  land  from  the 
ducal  proprietor,  and  employs  the  shepherds  and  labor- 
ers to  tend  his  flocks  and  herds  that  graze  upon  it. 
The  tacksman  remained  outside,  talking  with  those 
who  were  there,  and  so  the  dancing  was  resumed. 

The  minister  came  at  last,  and  he  and  the  tacks- 
man entered  together.  The  marriage  ceremony  was 
performed,  and  the  whisky  was  passed  around  again, 
being  offered  first  to  the  minister  and  the  tacksman, 
and  then  to  us.  The  minister  then  called  for  the  mu- 
sic and  dancing  to  be  resumed.  I  introduced  myself 
to  him,  and  he,  appearing  pleased  to  know  personally 
one  whom,  as  he  said,  he  had  long  known  by  name, 
introduced  me  to  the  tacksman.  W&  three,  thence- 
forth, formed  a  little  party  by  ourselves,  and  sat  to- 
gether and  talked  about  the  manners  and  customs  of 


212 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Gaelic  songs.  The  return. 

our  respective  countries  while  the  dance  went  on. 
They  varied  the  entertainment  by  singing  at  intervals 
Gaelic  songs,  with  strange,  old  Highland  ceremonies. 

The  minister  and  the  tacksman  left  us  before  long  to 
return  down  the  shore  of  the  loch  ;  but  my  compan- 
ion and  myself,  being  obliged  to  go  back  by  the  boats, 
had  to  wait  till  the  bridal  party  were  ready  to  return. 
When  the  hour  arrived  it  was  after  nine  o'clock.  The 
evening  twilight  was  far  advanced,  and  the  broad  sides 
of  the  mountains  were  dark  and  somber.  The  water 
was  ruffled  by  a  fresh  evening  breeze.  Our  company 
was  full  large  enough  for  the  boats  ;  and  as  they  had 
all  been  drinking  whisky  for  three  hours,  as  it  seemed 
to  me  almost  incessantly,  I  thought  I  perceived  some 
expression  of  solicitude  upon  the  countenances  of  one 
or  two,  who  seemed  to  have,  or,  perhaps,  rather  to  as- 
sume, the  charge  of  the  expedition  on  the  return.  One 
boat,  after  being  filled,  with  much  noise  and  clamor 
pushed  off  over  the  swell,  rolling  somewhat  unsteadily 
with  its  heavy  burden.  We  were  taking  our  places 
in  the  other,  to  follow  them.  The  oarsmen  were  impa- 
tient, being  ambitious  to  overtake  the  other  boat,  while 
the  passengers  looked  anxious  and  uneasy,  apparently 
afraid  of  the  consequences  of  a  race  under  such  circum- 
stances. The  young  man  who  had  assumed  the  com- 
mand of  the  boat  came  to  the  stern,  where  I  had  taken 
my  seat  with  the  bride  and  the  guests,  and  endeavored 
to  restrain  the  eagerness  of  the  rowers  by  calling  out 
to  them,  as  we  pushed  away  from  the  pier, 

"  Canny,  Angus  !  canny,  Donald  !"  (Canny  means 
quiet,  steady).  "  Canny,  canny  !  tak  y'r  time;  there  is 
nae  hurry  in  the  wark." 

Angus  was  a  strong,  athletic  young  man,  who  pulled 


LOCH  LOMOND. 


215 


Canny,  Angus.  Conversation.  Landing. 

one  of  the  forward  oars,  and  was  very  eager  to  over- 
tase  the  boat  before  us,  which  was  now  dimly  seen  at 
a  distance,  through  the  twihght,  upon  the  dark  water. 
The  entreaties  of  the  helmsman  had,  however,  but  lit- 
tle influence  in  restraining  his  impatience  ;  so  it  was 
"  Canny,  Angus  !  canny,  Donald  !  tak  y'r  time !"  all  the 
way  across,  these  exclamations  alternating  with  jokes 
and  laughter  shared  with  the  bridal  party  around  him, 
or  good-natured  conversation  with  me. 

"  And  wad  ye  recommend  to  me  to  gang  to  Amer- 
iky  ?"  said  he.  "  When  I  turn  ould,  like  this  man" — 
pointing  to  an  old  patriarch  on  one  of  the  thwarts  near 
us,  the  father  or  grandfather  of  half  the  party — "  wad 
I  be  independent  like  ?  Canny,  Angus  !  canny,  canny  ! 
tak  y'r  time." 

"  I  think,"  I  replied,  "  that  a  man  who  goes  to  Amer- 
ica makes  often  a  great  sacrifice  of  comfort  and  of  feel- 
ing for  himself,  but  it  is  better  for  his  children." 

This  sentiment  was  received  with  expressions  of 
very  hearty  concurrence  all  around  me.  It  was,  "Ah, 
there  ye'r  varry  right ;"  and  "  Ay,  it's  joost  that,"  end- 
ing always  with  "  Canny,  Angus  !  canny,  canny  !  ye'r 
pulling  her  head  all  aroond.  Look  afore  ye,  and  see 
where  ye  are  ganging." 

We  arrived  safely  at  last,  and  landed  on  the  little 
pier,  or  jetty,  projecting  from  the  beach  in  the  little 
bay.  There  had  been  an  arrival  at  the  inn,  by  which 
it  had  been  filled  unusually  full.  Every  place  where 
a  bed  could  be  made  up  was  occupied,  and  a  large 
family  party  were  taking  supper  in  the  only  public 
room.  Every  body  was  speaking  for  one  of  the  four 
ponies  belonging  to  the  inn,  to  ascend  the  mountain  in 
the  morning.    Those  who  had  not  been  early  enough 


216 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Scene  at  the  inn.  A  storm.  Debates  and  consultations. 

in  their  applications  were  disappointed  and  vexed,  as 
the  prospect  was  unusually  promising  for  a  pleasant 
morning  ;  and  they  were  calculating  and  debating  the 
question  whether  a  second  party  could  ascend,  after 
the  first  should  have  returned,  and  yet  be  in  time  to 
take  the  steamer.  Groups  of  travelers  discussed  all 
these  and  other  plans,  and  talked  of  their  various  in- 
tended tours,  seated  in  each  other's  bed-rooms,  or  stand- 
ing on  the  door-steps,  or  in  the  court-yards  of  the  inn. 
The  groups  of  the  bridal  party,  in  the  mean  time,  re- 
mained in  the  road,  passing  round  the  whisky  to  all 
who  would  drink  it,  and  firing  the  gun.  At  ten  o'clock 
they  disappeared,  and  the  weary  travelers  in  the  inn 
went  to  bed,  with  heads  full  of  mountain  excursions  to 
be  made  on  the  morrow,  the  plans  all  entangled,  con- 
flicting, and  impossible.  When  the  morning  arrived, 
however,  the  questions  were  all  settled  in  a  very  sum- 
mary manner.  Not  a  mountain  was  to  be  seen ;  driv- 
ing mists  hid  every  thing  from  view.  A  heavy  gale 
of  wind  was  blowing  up  the  loch,  bringing  with  it  al- 
most incessant  showers  of  pouring  rain.  The  enthusi- 
asm for  ascending  the  mountains  was  universally  chang- 
ed into  an  impatience,  scarcely  less  eager,  to  get  on 
board  the  steamer  and  be  taken  away  to  some  new 
scene.  The  sky  brightened  toward  noon,  but  it  made 
no  change  in  this  desire.  We  stood  upon  the  steps  of 
the  door,  talking  about  our  various  routes.  Among  the 
others  there  was  a  minister  going  to  assist  his  brother 
minister,  in  a  distant  glen,  to  administer  the  communion. 
It  seems  that  this  ceremony  is  performed  in  each  par- 
ish but  once  a  year,  and  then  it  is  the  signal  for  a  gen- 
eral gathering  from  all  the  region  around.  On  such  oc- 
casions the  neighboring  pastors  come  to  render  assist- 


LOCH  LOMOND. 


217 


The  minister  in  a  dilemma.  Embarkation. 

ance.  The  minister,  in  this  case,  was  hesitating  wheth- 
er to  go  on  foot  across  the  mountains  by  a  short  road, 
or  to  go  up  the  lake  a  few  miles  by  the  steamer,  to  a 
landing  where  he  would  find  a  more  open  road,  and 
some  sort  of  conveyance.  He  was  asking  the  inn- 
keepers advice  on  the  subject,  and  received  for  his 
reply, 

"  It  is  na  for  ye  to  cross  the  hills  the  day.  If  it  had 
been  a  fine  day  it  wad  hae  been  much  shorter  for  ye ; 
but  'the  moss  is  very  wet  the  day,  and  there  are  some 
burns  to  cross,  which  will  be  swelled  wi'  the  rain." 

Notwithstanding  this  advice,  the  minister  offered  to 
try  the  rugged  road,  if  I  would  accompany  him.  This 
proposal  I  was  very  reluctantly  compelled  to  decline, 
having  cut  my  boots  to  pieces  by  rambling  over  the 
rocks  and  mountains,  and  it  was  necessary  for  me  to 
make  the  best  of  my  way  out  of  these  solitudes  to  some 
town  where  I  could  replace  them.  How  much  more 
independent  and  free  was  the  peasant  girl,  my  com- 
panion of  the  previous  evening,  who  could  walk  through 
the  rough  mountain  passes  with  feet  either  covered  or 
bare,  but  all  the  better  if  they  were  bare. 

We  were  all,  accordingly,  soon  embarked  in  a  little 
boat,  and  were  floating  on  the  swell  of  the  loch  at  a 
short  distance  from  the  shore,  waiting  for  the  steamer, 
which  was  rapidly  drifting  toward  us,  her  paddles  still, 
and  her  steam-pipe  blowing  a  deafening  blast.  The 
trunks  were  hurried  on  board ;  the  passengers  follow- 
ed. We  found  ourselves  ushered  at  once  into  the  midst 
of  a  new  company  of  a  hundred  tourists,  all  admiring 
the  scenery  of  the  lake,  and  studying  out  the  localities 
with  their  guide-books  and  maps.  In  twenty  minutes 
the  scene  was  changed  as  suddenly  again.    We  were 

T 


218 


BUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Buying  shoes  at  a  post-office  I  Glens  and  lochs.  Population. 

disembarked  at  another  inn,  on  the  opposite  shore, 
where  a  glen  from  the  westward  opens  into  Loch 
Lomond,  through  whose  narrow  defile  the  road  to  In- 
verary  finds  its  way.  I  bought  a  pair  of  Highland 
shoes,  the  soles  studded  with  iron  nails,  at  the  post-of- 
fice !  I  rambled  two  or  three  hours  up  and  down  the 
shores  of  the  lake  talking  with  the  cottagers.  At  three 
o'clock  the  steamer  returned  and  landed  another  com- 
pany. We  mounted  upon  the  top  of  the  coach,  the 
coachman  filling  up  the  inside  with  the  baggage.  The 
inside  of  the  coach  is  always  held  in  very  low  estima- 
tion by  tourists  among  the  Scottish  Highlands.  We  as- 
cended a  narrow  dell,  which  opened  a  passage  through 
the  mountains  to  the  west,  and  took  leave  of  Loch  Lo- 
mond forever.  We  rode  rapidly  through  glen  after 
glen,  and  wound  around  the  heads  of  loch  after  loch, 
which  here  run  up  from  the  sea,  the  view  shut  in  ev- 
ery where  with  the  broad  and  lofty  slopes  of  the  mount- 
ains, all  smooth  and  green  to  the  summits,  the  whole 
presenting  every  where  a  scene  of  inexpressible  gran- 
deur and  beauty,  and  yet  of  absolute  solitude. 

And  yet,  solitary  as  these  glens  around  Loch  Lo- 
mond appear,  there  are  three  classes  of  inhabitants  dis- 
tinct and  very  strongly  marked.  First,  there  are  the 
proprietors,  generally  noblemen,  who  possess  the  land 
in  large  tracts  from  ten  to  fifty  miles  in  extent.  There 
is  a  duke  on  one  side  of  Loch  Lomond  and  a  marquis 
on  the  other,  to  whom  the  rest  of  the  population,  tour- 
ists and  all,  look  up  as  to  a  species  of  demigods.  They 
live  in  splendid  country  seats,  in  the  midst  of  beautiful 
parks  and  pleasure  grounds.  These  noblemen  gener- 
ally spend  the  winters  in  London,  and  the  summers  in 
receiving  company  of  their  own  rank  at  their  estates. 


LOCII  LOMOND. 


219 


The  duke  and  the  marquis.      The  cotters  and  shepherds.      Their  condition. 

or  in  visiting  at  tlie  castles  and  halls  of  other  grandees. 
Next  comes  a  class  of  such  men  as  the  tacksman,  who 
leases  a  certain  portion  of  the  land  as  a  grazing  farm, 
the  attorney,  who  transacts  the  legal  business,  and  the 
clergyman.  They  perform  no  manual  labor,  they  dress 
like  gentlemen,  and  have  an  air  of  cultivation  and  re- 
finement in  their  intercourse  with  society.  They  look 
up,  however,  with  a  sentiment  of  the  profoundest  awe 
to  the  duke,  or  to  Sir  John,  and  there  is  a  certain  sub- 
dued expression  in  their  air  and  manner,  an  appearance 
of  restraint  and  studied  propriety  of  demeanor,  as  if 
they  felt  all  the  time  that  there  was  somebody  above 
them  whom  they  must  be  careful  not  to  displease. 
They  have,  however,  the  opportunity,  in  their  turn,  of 
looking  down,  and  they  preserve  with  great  tenacious- 
ness  the  broad  line  of  demarkation  which  separates 
them,  in  social  position,  from  those  that  are  below. 
This  class  consists  of  the  great  mass  of  the  cultivators, 
the  "  cotters,"  the  laborers,  the  shepherds.  They  oc- 
cupy a  position  far  below.  A  large  portion  of  the  pro- 
ceeds of  their  labor  goes  up  to  those  above  them.  They 
receive,  however,  a  consideration  in  return.  They  are 
free  from  all  that  solicitude  and  care  which  being  a 
principal,  as  an  American  laborer  is,  in  owning  the 
land  he  works,  always  entails.  They  have  nothing  to 
do  but  to  go  on  in  their  simple  labors  all  their  days, 
just  as  their  fathers  did  before  them.  They  have  no 
hope  of  rising ;  but  then  they  have,  on  the  other  hand, 
no  fear  of  falling.  The  rents  which  the  tacksman  has 
to  pay  to  the  noble  proprietor  of  the  soil,  from  which 
he  builds  his  palaces,  and  ornaments  his  grounds,  and 
defrays  the  heavy  expenses  of  his  London  residence 
and  his  continental  tours,  forbid  his  paying  to  the  la- 


220 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


England  and  America.  The  aristocracy. 

borers  more  than  enough  for  mere  food  and  shelter. 
In  a  wild  and  mountainous  region  like  this,  in  Ameri- 
ca, there  will  be  no  ducal  residence,  no  parks,  no  pleas- 
ant drives,  no  assemblages  of  gay  and  fashionable  com- 
pany, but  every  cultivator  of  the  soil  has  each  his  own 
home;  he  has  floors  to  his  rooms,  feathers  instead  of 
chaff'  for  his  bed,  glass  for  his  windows,  a  horse  and 
wagon  for  his  drives  of  business  or  pleasure,  and  books 
and  newspapers  for  his  winter  evenings.  Both  nations 
are  equally  proud  of  their  respective  systems.  The 
Englishman  points  with  triumph  to  the  castle,  the  parks 
and  hunting-grounds,  and  the  splendid  equipages  of 
owe,  with  a  feeling,  too,  of  pride  and  pleasure,  which 
never  seems  the  least  alloyed  by  his  being  himself  ut- 
terly excluded  from  any  share  in  all  this  splendor,  and 
despises  what  he  calls  the  dead  and  monotonous  level 
of  democracy.  The  American  is  proud  of  the  sturdy 
independence  and  thrift  of  the  thousand;  the  intelli- 
gence, the  comforts,  and  the  freedom  which  reign  in 
all  their  homes,  and  looks  with  contempt  on  what  he 
calls  the  useless  pomp  and  parade,  and  the  idle  luxury 
of  an  aristocracy.  The  Englishman  seems  to  experi- 
ence a  feeling  of  protection  and  safety  in  having  some- 
body above  him  to  whom  he  can  look  up.  He  enjoys 
the  feeling  of  reverence  for  a  human  superior.  The 
American,  though  he  will  submit  to  the  ills  of  poverty, 
sickness,  and  affliction,  will  not  brook  any  pressure  upon 
him  by  the  hand  of  another  man.  He  takes  no  pleas- 
ure, therefore,  in  looking  up  to  aristocratical  grandeur ; 
while  the  Englishman  considers  such  a  summit  as  es- 
sential to  the  completeness  of  human  society,  as  its 
glory  and  its  crown. 

Pondering  on  these  thoughts,  we  rolled  on  over  the 


LOCH  LOMOND. 


221 


Beautiftil  shores.  Grand  defiles.  Inverary. 

smooth  and  level  road,  along  beautiful  shores  and 
through  the  grandest  defiles,  until  at  length  we  reached 
the  splendid  castle  of  the  Duke  of  Argyle,  and  his 
beautiful  little  village  of  Inverary. 

T  2 


222 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Conformation  of  the  land.  Islands.  Picturesque  scenery. 


LETTER  XII. 

STAFFA   AND  lONA. 

August  21. 

The  mountainous  conformation  of  the  land  which 
forms  the  Scottish  Highlands  does  not  terminate  at  the 
sea-shore.  It  extends,  half  submerged,  far  out  into  the 
Western  Ocean,  the  sea  filling  the  valleys,  and  sur- 
rounding and  isolating  the  peaks,  and  ranges,  and  ele- 
vated tracts  w^hich  rise  above  the  waves  as  islands, 
and  all  of  the  most  picturesque  and  beautiful  forms. 
In  studying  the  Highland  scenery  of  Scotland,  there- 
fore, these  Western  Islands  must  be  included. 

You  pass  among  them,  in  many  cases,  through  nar- 
row straits  and  passages,  which  would  have  been 
Highland  glens  were  it  nor  for  the  intrusion  of  the  sea. 
In  other  places  there  are  broad  bays  and  sounds,  with 
peaks  and  precipitous  masses  of  land  rising  here  and 
there  above  the  water.  Of  course,  the  views  are  every 
where  picturesque  and  striking.  In  fact,  the  islands 
and  the  Highlands  are  only  parts  of  one  and  the  same 
great  scene  of  mountains  and  seas  intermingled  togeth- 
er, the  only  difference  being  that  to  the  westward  of  a 
certain  line  the  water  predominates,  and  to  the  east- 
ward the  land. 

The  larger  of  these  islands  contain  towns  and  vil- 
lages, and  often  a  considerable  rural  population.  The 
smaller  ones,  though  they  have  no  human  dwellings 
upon  them,  are  still  parts  of  farms,  and  are  inhabited 
by  sheep  or  herds  of  Highland  cattle.  The  graziers 
bring  these  cattle  to  their  isolated  pastures  in  great 
flat-boats,  and  when  near  the  shore  they  tumble  them 


STAFFA  AND  lONA. 


223 


Grouse.  The  duke  and  the  cotters.  Stafla  and  lona. 

out  into  the  water  and  let  them  swim  to  the  land.  In 
some  of  the  islands  are  great  tracts  of  heather,  where 
the  grouse — birds  resembling  the  partridge — breed,  and 
the  proprietors  come,  with  some  of  their  friends,  in  the 
proper  season,  to  shoot  them  ;  in  fact,  the  grouse  seem 
to  take  precedence  over  man  in  many  cases.  Two 
English  gentlemen  were  conversing,  in  my  presence,  on 
the  subject  as  we  were  sailing  along  the  coasts  of  one 
of  the  largest  of  these  islands.  One  of  them  remarked 
to  .the  other  that  the  population  did  not  increase  at  all. 
"A  large  number  emigrated  not  very  long  since." 
"  Why  did  they  emigrate  ?"  asked  the  other.  "  Oh,  the 
duke  compelled  them.  He  does  not  want  the  popula- 
tion to  increase.  He  wants  to  keep  it  a  quiet,  still 
place  for  his  shooting !"  However  strange  this  may 
sound  in  the  ears  of  an  American,  I  assure  the  reader 
it  is  considered  all  very  natural  and  proper  in  Scotland. 

There  are  two  of  these  islands  which  are  special  ob- 
jects of  interest,  and  are  visited  as  such  by  tourists  from 
all  parts  of  the  world.  They  are  situated  very  near 
each  other.  One  is  lona,  which  was  in  early  times  the 
great  headquarters  and  seat  of  Christianity  and  of 
learning.  There  remain  upon  it,  to  this  day,  the  ruins 
of  a  Cathedral,  a  church,  a  nunnery,  and  the  monuments 
of  a  long  line  of  Scottish  kings  who  were  buried  there. 
The  other,  a  few  miles  distant  from  it,  is  Staffa.  StafFa 
is  a  small  island,  but  high.  One  end  of  it  is  formed  of 
an  immense  congeries  of  basaltic  columns,  rising  out  of 
the  sea,  and  supporting  a  great  bed  of  rock,  which  is 
covered  above  with  soil  and  vegetation.  Among  these 
columns  is  a  cavern  several  hundred  feet  in  length, 
whose  sides  are  composed  of  the  columns,  and  whose 
floor  is  formed  of  the  boiling  surges  of  the  sea.  These 


224 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Oban.  A  new  party.  The  "  car." 

two  islands  are  but  a  few  miles  distant  from  each  other, 
and  are  usually  visited  on  the  same  excursion.  They 
are  both  small,  and  they  lie  about  fifty  miles  from  the 
shore,  with  larger  and  more  mountainous  islands  be- 
tween. 

The  rendezvous  for  tourists  in  making  this  excursion, 
and,  in  fact,  for  the  steamers  passing  up  and  down  the 
western  coast  of  Scotland,  is  Oban,  a  little  town  of 
white  cottages,  built  under  the  cliffs,  around  a  small, 
but  very  picturesque  and  beautiful  bay.  We  came  to 
Oban  from  the  interior  about  sunset  on  a  very  pleasant 
day.  My  party  had  changed.  I  had  fallen  in  with 
some  professional  gentlemen  from  London  and  Edin- 
burgh, and  we  had  combined  to  take  a  car,  as  it  is 
called — a  vehicle  like  a  New  York  cab,  without  a  top. 
It  is  not  specially  comfortable  to  ride  in,  but  is  ex- 
tremely convenient  for  conversation,  as  the  passengers 
all  face  together,  two  on  each  side,  omnibus  fashion ; 
and  fine,  also,  for  seeing  the  country  and  taking  the 
showers,  as  it  is  entirely  open  on  all  sides. 

In  this  vehicle  we  had  traveled  on  through  glen  aft- 
er glen,  and  along  the  shores  of  wild  lochs,  where  we 
had  a  low  parapet  wall  between  us  and  the  water  on 
one  side,  and  dark,  precipitous  mountains  on  the  other. 
At  length  one  of  these  lochs  widened  into  an  estuary, 
ornamented  with  beautiful  islands  and  bold  shores.  We 
met  little  parties  of  tourists,  some  carrying  fishing  ap- 
paratus, some  port-folios  for  sketching,  and  some  attend- 
ed by  a  servant  in  livery,  all  indicating  our  approach 
to  an  inn.  A  few  minutes  afterward  we  wheeled  down 
into  a  town,  which  we  found  occupying  a  very  roman- 
tic and  picturesque  situation.  There  was  a  small  bay 
surrounded  by  cliffs  and  steep  green  hills,  which  left 


STAFPA  AND  lONA. 


225 


Harbor  of  Oban,  Streets.  Battery.  Crowded  inn. 

only  a  narrow  space  between  them  and  the  beach. 
Toward  the  sea  huge  islands  intercepted  the  view, 
among  which  the  eye  wandered  instinctively  in  search 
for  the  passage  by  which  the  vessels  at  anchor  inside 
had  entered  or  could  get  away.  A  long  pier  project- 
ed into  the  water,  two  large  steamers,  with  bright-red 
chimneys,  being  moored  at  the  end  of  it,  and  another 
just  coming  up,  and  blowing  off  her  steam.  A  street 
passed  around  the  shore  of  the  bay,  with  a  perpendic- 
ular wall  toward  the  water.  Below  the  wall  was  a 
beach,  left  dry  by  the  retiring  tide.  On  the  opposite 
side  of  the  street  were  long  blocks  of  whitewashed 
houses,  two  stories  high,  facing  the  water.  These 
blocks  were  not  continuous,  but  were  interrupted  at 
several  points  by  roads  diverging  into  the  country,  by 
an  avenue  leading  to  a  little  church,  perched  under  the 
cliffs  behind  the  town,  and  by  a  stream  which  issued 
forth  from  a  narrow  dell,  and  emptied  into  the  bay  un- 
der an  ancient  bridge.  On  the  brow  of  one  hill,  over- 
hanging the  town,  a  small  battery  had  been  formed  of 
turf,  with  canon  at  the  embrasures,  ready  to  salute  the 
royal  yacht  which  is  expected  to  enter  the  harbor  next 
week  with  the  queen  and  Prince  Albert  on  board.  All 
this  was  Oban. 

The  inn  was  very  full,  and,  of  course,  the  accommo- 
dations Tery  contracted  for  any  new  arrival.  Always 
glad  of  a  plausible  excuse  for  leaving  public  resorts 
and  getting  behind  the  scenes  of  ordinary  daily  life,  I 
set  off  the  next  morning  on  a  ramble  through  the  vil- 
lage to  look  out  for  private  lodgings.  I  selected  one 
at  last,  the  humblest  that  I  could  find  consistently  with 
securing  certain  comforts  absolutely  essential.  The 
apartment  was  a  back  room  behind  a  shop.    It  was 


226 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Lodgings.  The  clock.  The  landlady. 

usually  the  family  room  of  the  occupants  of  the  shop, 
or  store,  as  it  would  have  been  called  in  America  ;  but, 
when  the  inn  was  full,  they  were  accustomed  to  let  it 
to  travelers,  bestowing  themselves,  while  their  guests 
remained,  in  what  seemed  to  me  very  restricted  quar- 
ters in  the  shop  itself,  which,  though  very  small,  is  di- 
vided, on  such  occasions,  into  bed-room,  sitting-room, 
shop,  and  kitchen,  by  means  of  partitions  made  of  high 
furniture  and  curtains.  In  my  room  in  the  rear,  where 
I  write  this  description,  every  thing  is  plain,  but  very 
neat  and  comfortable.  The  floor,  though  it  has  a 
carpet  upon  it,  feels  very  solid  under  the  feet,  being 
of  stone.  The  walls  are  also  of  stone,  but  are  neatly 
whitewashed.  There  is  a  fire-place,  with  a  little  grate 
for  peat  or  coal,  and  a  clock  without  a  case,  which 
ticks  loudly  at  the  head  of  my  bed,  and  strikes  the 
hours  with  great  distinctness  and  fidelity,  though,  to 
my  great  joy,  the  first  night  that  I  slept  there  it  ran 
down  a  little  past  midnight.  The  good  lady  apolo- 
gized in  the  morning  for  not  having  wound  it  up,  and 
did  not  forget  again  ;  so  I  have  been  accustomed,  when 
I  go  to  bed,  to  relieve  it  from  duty  during  the  night  by 
gently  lifting  the  weight  and  setting  it  on  the  table,  and 
thus  both  the  clock  and  myself  sleep  together  until  the 
morninor.  There  is  a  small  shelf  of  books,  all  in  the 
Gaelic  language,  attached  to  the  wall  in  the  corner, 
and  a  table  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  where  I  write 
my  letters  and  take  my  breakfast  and  tea ;  and  all  the 
time  that  I  am  at  home  I  am  the  object  of  my  landla- 
dy's constant  and  truly  maternal  care. 

Toward  the  evening  of  the  day  on  which  I  got  es- 
tablished in  these  quarters,  a  crier  came  through  the 
village  ringing  his  bell,  and  announcing  the  steam-boat 


STAFFA  AND  lONA. 


227 


The  crier.  Departure.  The  pier.  The  steamer. 

arrangements  for  the  following  day,  calling  out,  with 
loud  vociferation,  and  with  many  pauses  for  breath, 
that  at  seven  o'clock  such  a  steamer  would  leave 
Oban  for  Fort  William  and  Dorpach,  points  far  to  the 
north ;  that  at  eight  o'clock  another  would  set  sail  for 
Staffa  and  lona,  to  return  in  the  evening ;  and  then  at 
nine  a  third  would  depart  for  Greenock  and  Glasgow, 
by  way  of  the  Crinan  Canal. 

I  took  my  breakfast  the  next  morning  at  seven,  and 
then  sallied  forth  to  embark  for  Staffa  and  lona,  my 
good  landlady  having  reported  favorably  in  regard  to 
the  prospects  of  the  weather,  upon  which  she  had  made 
very  close  observations  at  an  early  hour.  She  put  a 
small  paper  parcel  in  my  hand,  too,  as  I  went  away, 
saying,  "  I  thought  ye  wad  like  to  tak'  a  bit  'o  biscuit 
wi'  ye  for  the  steamer." 

I  went  to  the  pier  ;  I  found  there  the  gentlemen  who 
had  been  my  traveling  companions  in  the  Highland  car. 
They  had  been  to  Staffa  and  lona  the  day  before,  and 
were  now  to  proceed  northward  in  another  steamer, 
which  was  lying  alongside  of  the  one  in  which  my  ex- 
cursion was  to  be  made.  We  bade  each  other  good- 
by,  and  the  two  steamers  sailed  out  of  the  little  harbor 
together. 

Our  own  was  a  large  and  handsomely-furnished  ves- 
sel. The  deck  was  open,  and  it  had  cushioned  seats 
around  the  sides,  on  which  the  company  were  sitting, 
dressed  in  every  variety  of  costume.  There  were 
families  with  their  children ;  young  students  with  their 
tutors  ;  older  ones  in  little  parties  of  three  or  four;  and 
young  brides  with  their  husbands,  the  most  contented 
and  happy  of  all.  A  fresh  breeze  was  blowing,  and 
our  course  led  us  to  the  south  of  the  great  island  of 


228 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Company  of  tourists.  Stone  hovels.  Approach  to  lona. 

Mull,  where  we  were  exposed  to  the  open  sea.  As  we 
advanced  into  the  swell,  guide-books  and  maps  were 
gradually  laid  aside;  conversation  ceased,  and  a  large 
part  of  the  company  were  soon  extended  on  the  seats 
or  on  the  deck,  or  upon  the  sofas  in  an  elegant  cabin 
below,  pale  and  wretched,  wishing,  probably,  that  they 
had  been  contented  with  such  scenery  and  ruins  as 
were  to  be  seen  without  leaving  the  shore. 

After  some  hours  we  came  to  narrower  waters, 
where  we  were  somewhat  under  the  lee  of  the  land. 
The  company  recovered  their  vivacity  and  spirits,  and 
soon  marshaled  themselves  along  the  deck  to  gaze  upon 
the  approaching  shores  of  lona.  We  sailed  along  a 
range  of  low,  rocky  points,  with  patches  of  white,  sandy 
beach  intervening.  A  little  way  back  from  the  water 
was  a  long,  straight  row  of  stone  hovels,  the  walls  brown 
and  mossy  with  age,  the  roofs  thatched  and  overgrown 
with  grass  and  weeds.  There  was  a  company  of  la- 
borers picking  busily  upon  one  of  the  ragged  ledg- 
es which  projected  into  the  water,  in  the  apparently 
vain  attempt  to  fashion  it  into  a  pier,  there  being  at 
present  no  landing-place  except  upon  slippery  rocks 
and  among  boiling  surges.  Upon  one  of  the  small, 
white,  sandy  beaches  stood  a  great  crowd  of  girls  and 
boys,  holding  something  carefully  in  their  hands,  though 
the  distance  was  too  great  to  allow  us  to  see  what. 
Two  great  boats  were  seen  pushing  off  from  the  shore, 
evidently  with  the  design  of  taking  the  passengers  from 
the  steamer.  The  land  ascended  gradually  behind  the 
huts  already  described,  to  a  range  of  low,  green  hills, 
covered  with  heather,  from  among  which  great  ledges 
of  rocks  peeped  out  every  where,  At  each  end  of  the 
long  row  of  huts  was  a  mass  of  ruins ;  but  there  was 


STAFFA   AND  lONA. 


229 


Landing  at  lona.  Boats  in  the  surf.  Rocks  and  sea-weed. 

nothing  in  the  least  degree  picturesque  or  alluring  in 
the  aspect  which  they  presented ;  in  fact,  the  whole 
scene  was  one  of  gloomy  barrenness,  wretchedness, 
and  desolation.  And  yet  this  was  the  point  from  which 
the  light  of  Christianity,  civilization,  and  learning  spread 
over  all  the  land. 

The  steamer  stopped,  and  the  boats  came  alongside, 
plunging  fearfully  in  the  swell  which  rolled  along  the 
steamer's  sides.  The  passengers  clambered  into  them 
by  means  of  a  sort  of  step-ladder  let  down  the  side, 
though  with  much  difficulty  and  delay,  on  account  of 
the  rising  and  falling  of  the  boats,  and  their  thumping 
against  the  foot  of  the  ladder  and  the  guards  of  the 
paddle-boxes,  which  all  the  exertions  of  the  seamen 
could  not  wholly  prevent.  At  length  we  were  all  em- 
barked, twenty-five  or  thirty  in  each  boat,  and  the  row- 
ers began  to  pull  for  the  land.  As  we  approached  the 
shore  the  boat  rose  and  fell  with  the  waves,  which  were 
beating  in  upon  the  rocks  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make 
it  appear  very  doubtful  how  we  were  to  land.  The 
oarsmen  hesitated,  and,  resting  upon  their  oars,  looked 
anxiously  along  the  line  of  foaming  surges  which  were 
rolling  in  upon  the  shore.  At  length  they  turned  and 
pushed  toward  a  point  of  rocks  which  made  out  into 
the  waves,  the  boat  rising  and  falling  fearfully  with 
its  heavy  burden,  and  the  spray  dashing  over  the  bows, 
and  breaking  violently  among  the  blades  of  the  oars. 
At  length  we  reached  the  rocks ;  they  were  covered 
with  sea-weed.  As  we  touched,  two  of  the  boatmen 
sprang  out  into  the  water,  and  endeavored  to  steady 
the  boat  by  holding  its  bows  so  as  to  ease  it  as  much 
\as  possible  in  its  thumps  upon  the  rocky  ledges,  and 
called  upon  the  passengers  to  scramble  out  as  quick  as 

U 


230 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Children,  "  These  for  six  pence,"  etc.  Buying  souvenirs. 

possible.  There  was  nothing  to  stand  upon  but  the 
wet  and  slimy  sea-weed,  and  we  had  a  long  distance 
to  walk  upon  these  slippery  ways  before  we  came  to 
any  firmer  footing.  Over  this  treacherous  surface  the 
company  slowly  and  cautiously  advanced,  the  seas 
surging  continually  in  through  the  channels  among  the 
rocks,  terrifying  the  ladies,  who  were  perched  very 
unstably  on  the  prominences,  which  they  surrounded 
and  threatened  to  overwhelm,  and  submerging  the  feet 
of  the  gentlemen,  who  stood  incautiously  or  gallantly 
in  the  depressions  and  hollows. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  crowd  of  children  who  had 
been  waiting  for  us  on  the  beach,  when  they  found  that 
our  course  was  diverted,  and  that  we  were  to  land  upon 
the  rocks,  came  scrambling  round  to  meet  us,  each  with 
a  plate  or  saucer  filled  with  various  colored  pebbles, 
which  they  had  collected  on  the  beach,  and  which  they 
wished  us  to  buy  ;  so  that  while  we  were  all  earnest- 
ly engaged  in  helping  the  ladies  and  one  another  along, 
and  staggering  about  to  avoid  the  streams  which  still, 
even  at  this  distance  from  our  landing,  came  pouring 
up  about  our  feet,  these  children  crowded  eagerly 
around  us  and  in  our  way,  holding  the  plates  and  sau- 
cers before  us,  and  calling  out  the  prices  of  their  re- 
spective collections.  "  All  these  for  six  pence !"  "  Four 
pence  !"  "  Eight  pence  !"  "  Two  pence  !"  "  These 
for  four  pence  !"  They  were  the  wildest-looking  set 
of  savages  I  had  seen,  except  the  boys  in  the  New- 
castle colliery,  and  they  wanted  us  to  buy  their  col- 
lections as  souvenirs  of  our  visit  to  lona  ! 

We  soon  advanced  to  where  the  rocks  were  bare 
and  dry,  which  was  a  great  improvement  in  respect  to 
our  footing.    Soon  afterward  we  reached  the  sand. 


STAFFA  AND  lONA. 


231 


Fairly  ashore.     .       A  little  Bable.  The  ruins.  Tomb-stonea. 

Here  our  party  collected  together,  the  other  boat  hav- 
ing landed  its  portion  in  the  mean  time.  A  conductor 
took  us  in  charge  to  show  us  the  ruins.  We  walked 
along  a  sort  of  road  in  front  of  the  huts,  the  children 
thronging  around  us  and  before  us,  with  the  most  eager 
importunity,  all  the  way.  If  any  one  of  the  party 
showed  the  least  inclination  to  buy,  he  was  immedi- 
ately overwhelmed  and  confounded  by  the  multitude  of 
plates  and  saucers  which  were  instantaneously  thrust 
before  him,  and  by  the  clamors  of  the  Uttle  sellers,  each 
urging  him  to  "  buy  mine,"  "  buy  mine."  With  such  a 
multitude  of  offers,  and  in  the  confusion  of  the  sounds 
of  "  Six  pence  !"  "  Four  pence  1"  "  These  for  two 
pence  !"  "Buy  mine  !"  "Buy  mine  !"  it  was  impos- 
sible to  decide  upon  any  thing ;  and  while  the  poor 
purchaser  stood  perplexed  and  confused,  the  party 
moved  on,  so  that  he  had  soon  to  break  away  from  the 
little  troop  about  him,  and  hurry  on  without  closing  a 
bargain  with  any  of  them. 

We  at  length  reached  the  ruins.  The  grounds  were 
inclosed  by  an  ancient  wall,  in  which  was  an  iron  gate, 
which  our  guide  opened  with  a  key  ;  and  the  whole 
party,  fifty  genteel  tourists,  full  of  wonder  and  curios- 
ity, and  fifty  ragged  and  half-naked  children,  with 
plates  and  saucers  of  pebbles  in  their  hands,  followed 
him  in.  The  guide,  however,  drove  the  children  back 
and  locked  the  gate  against  them,  while  we  went 
scrambling  over  the  tomb-stones,  which  covered  the 
whole  ground  like  a  pavement,  all  most  curiously 
sculptured  and  carved.  Our  conductor  hastened  us 
forward,  saying  that  only  an  hour  was  allowed  for  the 
whole  excursion,  and  that  we  would  look  at  these  mon- 
uments and  tomb-stones  on  our  return.    We  accord- 


232 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  cloisters.  The  chapter-house.  The  church-yard. 

ingly  went  on,  and  entered  at  length  a  sort  of  inclosure, 
surrounded  by  ruined  arches  and  walls,  which  the  guide 
informed  us  were  the  cloisters.  From  this  scene  we 
were  ushered  into  a  gloomy,  roofless  room,  with  eight 
niches  about  the  walls,  which  we  were  told  was  the 
chapter-house,  that  is,  the  room  where  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities  of  the  establishment  held  their  meetings 
and  transacted  their  affairs.  From  this  room  we  went 
into  the  Cathedral  itself.  It  had  all  the  parts  and  ap- 
purtenances of  a  modern  minster,  but  on  a  very  small 
scale,  and  of  extremely  rude  execution.  Effigies  were 
cut  in  the  walls  and  on  the  stones  of  the  pavements, 
and  there  were  innumerable  inscriptions  in  ancient 
characters,  and  in  the  Latin  tongue,  half  obliterated  by 
time.  The  whole  building  was  of  very  small  dimen- 
sions, and  the  stones  of  which  the  walls  were  compos- 
ed were  of  all  colors,  sizes,  and  shapes,  cobbles  and 
slates  being  mixed  and  alternated  with  each  other  in 
the  utmost  disorder.  There  was  nothing  in  the  whole 
which  a  modern  builder  could  approve  except  the 
mortar  ;  this,  however,  had  been  extremely  faithful  to 
its  trust,  as  was  evident  by  its  having  held  together 
such  materials  for  so  long  a  time. 

We  passed  out  into  the  church-yard  again.  It  seems 
that  nobles  and  kings,  in  those  days  as  well  as  now, 
however  they  might  have  lived,  liked  to  repose  at  last 
in  consecrated  ground ;  seeking  a  useless  refuge  for 
their  lifeless  bodies  in  the  sanctuaries  of  Christianity, 
after  having,  through  life,  rejected  the  true  salvation 
which  she  had  oflTered  to  the  living  soul.  Thus,  as  this 
Cathedral  was  for  so  long  a  time  the  chief  seat  and 
sanctuary  of  the  Christian  Church,  its  yard  was,  for 
many  years,  a  royal  burying-ground.    The  guide  told 


STAFFA  AND  lONA. 


233 


Royal  graves.  Progress  of  decay.  Ancient  cross. 

US  that  forty-five  kings  of  Scotland  were  lying  beneath 
our  feet.  I  thought  the  company  trampled  very  irrev- 
erently upon  the  royal  graves.  The  stones  lay  flat 
upon  the  ground,  and  were  carved  and  sculptured  very 
curiously,  being  covered  with  every  conceivable  quaint 
effigy  and  device. 

I  took  an  opportunity  to  question  the  guide  in  regard 
to  the  progress  of  decay  upon  the  ruins.  He  said  that 
they  were  crumbling  slowly,  but  did  not  sensibly 
change  from  year  to  year.  He  had  been  acquainted 
with  the  ruins  for  forty  years,  and,  judging  from  the 
changes  which  he  had  witnessed  during  that  time,  he 
thought  "  the  great  square  tower"  would  stand  for  a 
century  to  come.  Perhaps  it  may,  though  as  to  the 
monumental  carvings  and  inscriptions  on  the  tomb- 
stones, which  were  lying  every  where  around,  it  seem- 
ed to  me  that  they  must  be  pretty  efTectually  oblitera- 
ted by  the  footsteps  of  fifty  visitors  a  day,  if  they  tram- 
pled over  the  sacred  memorials  as  ruthlessly  as  we  did. 

There  is  a  curious  kind  of  cross  which  it  was  the 
custom  to  erect  in  this  island  in  ancient  days.  These 
crosses  were  cut  from  a  single  block  of  stone,  and  cov- 
ered with  sculptured  figures  and  images.  It  is  said 
that  great  numbers  of  these  crosses  were  erected, 
though  only  a  few  now  remain.  One,  which  we  saw 
in  the  church-yard,  was  perhaps  ten  feet  high,  and 
stood  in  a  socket  cut  in  a  large  block  of  stone  which 
served  for  a  pedestal.  It  was  secured  by  three  iron 
wedges,  which  the  guide  pointed  out  to  us,  saying  that 
the  cross  "  was  declining  entirely,"  but  that  they  raised 
it  up,  and  supported  it  in  its  place,  by  order  of  the  Duke 
of  Athol.  The  duke  is  the  proprietor  of  the  island,  and, 
consequently,  of  the  ruins.  The  guide  stated  to  his 
U2 


234 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Tho  duke.  The  poor  children.  Buying  pebbles. 

fifty  auditors  the  fact  that  the  cross  owed  its  erect  po- 
sition to  the  interposition  of  the  duke  with  an  air  of 
great  deference  and  respect ;  and  we  all  looked  in  si- 
lence upon  the  little  rusty  wedges,  with  a  profound  sen- 
timent of  respect  for  the  aristocratic  greatness  which 
could  accomplish  such  conservative  measures  by  just 
speaking  the  word. 

Thus  we  passed  along,  following  our  guide  rapidly 
from  point  to  point,  and  listening  to  his  explanations, 
until  at  length,  before  we  had  completed  our  survey, 
the  bell  of  the  steamer,  which  had  been  all  this  time 
patiently  riding  at  anchor  at  a  little  distance  from  the 
shore,  summoned  us  to  return.  The  children,  who  had 
been  watching  us  through  the  bars  of  the  gate-way, 
beset  us  immediately  again,  when  we  issued  from  it, 
and  hovered  about  us  with  eager  importunities  until  we 
reached  the  shore.  I  bought  specimens  of  some  of 
them,  and  hired  others,  at  half  a  penny  a  piece,  not  to 
ask  me  to  buy  any  more ;  but  the  spectacle  of  their 
poverty  and  wretchedness,  their  eagerness  to  sell  their 
little  treasures,  the  roughness  with  which  they  were 
repulsed,  and  their  looks  of  mournful  disappointment, 
gave  me,  on  the  whole,  far  more  of  pain  than  the  view 
of  all  the  ruins  afforded  of  pleasure.  From  among  my 
purchases,  I  brought  only  a  single  specimen  away.  It 
was  a  pebble  of  quartz,  green  and  transparent,  a  vari- 
ety peculiar  to  the  island.  I  thought  it  would  cut  well 
for  a  seal,  and  I  meant  to  preserve  it  as  a  souvenir  of 
the  ruins  of  lona.  It  proves,  however,  to  be  only  a 
souvenir  of  the  misery  and  destitution  of  the  poor 
wretches  whose  pebbles  I  did  not  buy. 

The  thoughts  and  feelings  which  one  might  imagine 
would  be  experienced  in  visiting  this  ancient  seat  and 


STAFFA  AND  lONA. 


235 


Recollections  of  lona.  Mode  of  visiting  it.  Return  to  the  steamer. 

center  of  piety  and  learning,  are  very  feebly  awakened 
under  the  circumstances  in  which  we  see  it.  If  one 
could  be  there  alone,  with  an  inn  at  hand,  from  which 
he  could  make  repeated  visits  to  the  ruins  in  silence 
and  solitude,  and  could  read,  on  the  spot,  the  histories 
of  the  times  when  the  institutions  of  which  they  were 
the  seat  were  in  their  glory,  he  would  experience,  no 
doubt,  strong  emotions  of  interest  and  pleasure.  But 
to  go,  as  visitors  must  generally  go  now ;  to  arrive  in 
an  elegant  modern  steam-boat  in  company  with  a  large 
party  of  fashionable  strangers ;  to  find  yourself  suddenly 
and  unexpectedly  crowded  into  a  boat,  and  thumping 
on  the  rocks  in  the  swell,  and  then  staggering  along  to 
gain  the  shore  over  the  slippery  sea- weed,  in  the  midst 
of  a  crowd  of  scramblers  who  fill  the  air  with  their 
shouts  of  laughter  or  exclamations  of  fear ;  to  be  hur- 
ried along  from  ruin  to  ruin,  listening,  with  fifty  others, 
to  the  brief  explanations  of  a  guide  ;  and,  finally,  to  be 
hurried  back  by  the  tolling  of  your  steam-boat  bell ;  in 
such  a  visit  there  is  no  time  for  thought,  and  no  oppor- 
tunity for  any  other  emotion  than  a  sort  of  bewildering 
wonder.  When  it  is  over,  you  look  back  upon  it  as 
upon  some  strange,  wild  fancy  of  sleep,  and  can  hardly 
tell  whether  you  have  really  seen  lona,  or  have  been 
haunted  by  specter  children  hovering  over  a  gloomy 
ruin,  in  a  dream. 

We  clambered  back  to  the  boats,  and  were  rowed 
with  infinite  difficulty  to  the  steamer's  side,  and  after 
a  while,  one  after  another,  we  clambered  up  the  stairs 
again  and  regained  the  deck.  The  anchor  was  up  by 
the  time  we  were  on  board,  and  we  were  off  at  full 
speed  for  StafTa.  StafTa  lies  north  of  lona,  about  five 
miles  distant.    The  sea  on  every  hand  was  covered 


236 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Approach  to  StafFa.  The  surf.  The  hoats. 

with  islands  of  every  picturesque  form,  rising  like 
mountains  and  cliffs  out  of  the  sea.  Stafia,  when  it 
first  came  distantly  into  view,  was  distinguished  from 
the  rest  by  having  one  of  its  sides  exactly  perpendicu- 
lar, as  if  it  had  been  cut  down  artificially  to  the  wa- 
ter's edge.  The  wind  had  increased,  and  we  found,  as 
we  approached,  that  this  island  was  more  open  in  sit- 
uation than  lona,  and  more  exposed  to  the  swell ;  in 
fact,  it  very  often  happens  that  passengers  can  not 
land,  for  the  shore  is  rocky  on  every  side,  and  there  is 
no  part  at  all  protected  from  the  waves.  The  surf 
was  rolling  in  now  with  a  violence  just  within  the  limit 
rendering  it  possible  to  land.  Some  of  the  company 
chose  not  to  venture.  The  rest  clambered  down  into 
the  boats,  and  the  oarsmen  pulled  for  the  shore. 

We  were  loaded  heavily,  and,  as  the  boats  rose  and 
fell  upon  the  billows  more  and  more  the  nearer  we 
came  to  the  shore,  the  oarsmen  paused,  and  seemed  to 
shrink  from  the  attempt  to  land.  They  hesitated  for 
some  time,  surveying  the  coast  to  find  the  best  place 
for  a  trial.  Our  boat,  which  was  the  foremost,  at 
length  made  for  a  line  of  the  shore  where  there  was  a 
range  of  rocks  rounded  off  toward  the  sea,  and  form- 
ing a  sort  of  natural  platform,  or  pier.  I  happened  my- 
self to  be  at  the  bows,  and  leaped  ashore,  with  two  of 
the  boatmen,  the  moment  the  boat  touched.  I  climbed 
up  upon  the  rocks,  while  the  boatmen  grasped  the  boat 
to  keep  her  off.  They  were  immediately  half  sub- 
merged by  a  swelling  wave,*  which  rolled  in  around 
them,  and  dashed  the  boat  forward,  and  would  have 
fixed  the  bows  upon  the  rocks,  leaving  the  stern,  with 
its  heavy  load  of  passengers,  to  sink  in  the  foaming 


*  See  Frontispiece. 


STAFFA  AND  lONA. 


237 


A  critical  situation.  Danger  escaped, 

surges  behind,  had  they  not  pushed  her  off  with  all  their 
force,  so  that,  as  the  wave  fell,  the  bow  descended  with 
the  rest  of  the  boat,  grinding  its  way  down  upon  the 
ragged  rocks.  Immediately  the  men  had  to  change 
their  action,  and  exert  all  their  force  in  holding  the 
boat  to  the  shore,  instead  of  keeping  her  from  it,  or  she 
would  have  been  carried  away  from  them  by  the  re- 
tiring wave.  This  operation  was  repeated  two  or  three 
times,  the  thumping  and  grinding  of  the  boat,  as  she 
rose  and  fell  four  or  five  feet  perpendicularly,  being 
altogether  too  great  to  allow  the  passengers  to  land. 
The  two  men  then  gave  up  the  attempt.  They  leaped 
back  into  the  boat  and  pushed  her  off,  directing  me  to 
walk  up  the  island,  while  they  should  coast  along  and 
endeavor  to  find  some  better  place  to  land. 

I  thought  my  own  position  on  shore  safer  than  that 
of  my  fellow-passengers  on  board,  as  such  a  boat,  load- 
ed with  twenty  or  thirty  men  and  women,  has  a  mo- 
mentum and  force  in  its  plunges  in  the  surf  which  it  is 
very  difficult  for  two  boatmen,  standing  on  slippery 
rocks,  and  half  submerged  in  the  swell,  to  control.  If 
it  had  been  allowed  to  come  up  to  the  rocks  broadside 
to  it  would  have  rolled  over  and  over  like  a  log  in 
going  down  with  the  wave.  The  safety  of  all  on  board 
depended  on  bringing  it  up  with  the  stem,  or  stern,  pre- 
sented to  the  rocks,  and  then,  by  the  greatest  exertion, 
to  prevent  its  being  caught  upon  them.  While  doing 
this  the  men  were  in  imminent  danger,  as  I  thought,  of 
being  crushed  between  the  boat  and  the  rocks,  or  wash- 
ed off  into  the  sea,  the  waves  coming  up  around  them 
waist  high. 

I  climbed  up  the  cliflis,  and  the  boat  cruised  along 
the  shore,  joined  soon  by  the  other  boat,  which  now 


238 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Top  of  the  island.  Stairway.  Basaltic  column. 

drew  near,  and  the  company  contrived,  some  how  or 
other,  to  get  at  last  all  to  land.  The  parties  from  the 
boats  ascended  the  rocks,  and  we  all  set  out  together  to 
walk  toward  the  famous  cavern. 

The  island  is  three  quarters  of  a  mile  long,  and  is 
bordered  by  perpendicular  cliffs  on  almost  all  sides  to- 
ward the  sea.  On  the  top  is  a  tract  of  tolerably  lev- 
el grass  land,  which  is  tenanted  by  a  herd  of  cattle. 
These  cattle  came  up  in  a  body,  and  gazed  at  us  in 
mute  astonishment  until  we  had  passed  by.  When  we 
arrived  at  the  southern  extremity  of  the  island,  we  ad- 
vanced toward  the  brink  of  a  precipice,  without  seeing 
how  we  were  to  descend,  until,  on  looking  over  the 
edge,  we  perceived  a  very  narrow  and  almost  perpen- 
dicular wooden  stair-case  leading  down.  It  had  a  slen- 
der wooden  railing  on  each  side.  The  whole  was  sup- 
ported and  steadied  by  braces  formed  by  stakes,  the 
lower  ends  of  which  were  sharpened  and  driven  an 
inch  or  two  into  the  crevices  of  the  rocks.  As  we 
looked  down  we  found  that  the  shore  below  was  form- 
ed of  the  upper  ends  of  columns  rising  out  of  the  wa- 
ter. Here  was  also  a  low,  conical  island  near  the 
shore,  formed,  likewise,  of  such  columns.  Between 
this  island  and  the  foot  of  the  precipice,  directly  be- 
neath our  feet,  was  a  long,  narrow  passage,  with  the 
sea  rolling  and  roaring  through  it,  as  if  eager  to  swal- 
low us  up  if  we  should  attempt  to  descend. 

The  passengers  followed  one  another  down  the  stair- 
way, clinging  desperately  to  the  railing.  At  the  bot- 
tom we  found  ourselves  landed  upon  a  very  extraordi- 
nary surface  of  rocks,  formed  by  the  upper  ends  oi 
broken  columns,  black  and  smooth  like  well-worn  cast 
iron.    They  were  all  even  and  flat  at  the  upper  ends; 


STAFFA  AND  lONA. 


239 


Tops  of  the  columns.  The  cavern.  Entrance.  Ropes. 

but,  being  of  different  lengths,  they  formed  steps,  by 
which  we  could  descend  easily  to  the  water's  edge,  or 
ascend  to  the  foot  of  the  cliffs.  The  cliffs  were  formed 
of  tall  pillars,  clustered  closely  together,  and  in  some 
places  curved  inward,  as  if  bending  under  the  weight 
of  the  mass  of  rock  resting  upon  them. 

We  turned  to  the  left,  and  walked  along  upon  the 
tops  of  the  columns,  with  the  sea  sweeping  in  tumultu- 
ous swells  through  the  narrow  passage  between  us  and 
the  island,  and  dashing  up  nearly  to  our  feet.  At  length 
we  reached  the  mouth  of  the  great  cavern.  On  ap- 
proaching the  entrance,  we  found  that  there  were  some 
broken  columns,  the  ends  being,  perhaps,  ten  feet  above 
the  water,  upon  which  we  could  clamber  along  into  the 
arched  opening.  The  footing,  however,  was  very  nar- 
row, and  we  had  to  step  continually  up  and  down,  on 
account  of  the  different  lengths  of  the  columns  over 
which  we  had  to  climb.  And  as  the  boiling  and  roar- 
ing surges  were  dashing  in  and  out  through  the  whole 
length  of  the  cave,  as  if  to  frighten  us  from  our  attempt, 
it  would  have  been  very  difficult  for  us  to  have  entered, 
had  it  not  been  for  the  help  of  a  rope  which  was  pass- 
ed through  rings  fastened  into  the  rocky  pillars.  We 
could  cling  to  this  rope  as  we  passed  along  around  cor- 
ners and  over  projections,  where  otherwise  we  should 
have  been  in  imminent  danger  of  losing  our  hold,  and 
being  plunged  into  the  foaming  and  thundering  cal- 
dron below. 

When  we  were  all  fairly  in  the  cave,  the  scene  was 
certainly  a  very  striking  one.  We  stood,  or,  rather, 
clung,  fifty  of  us  in  a  line,  halfway  between  the  foam- 
ing surges  which  formed  the  floor  of  the  cavern  and 
the  vaulted  roof  above.    Some  clung  to  the  ropes  in 


240 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Reverberations.  Summons  to  return. 

attitudes  of  fear  ;  others  sat  composed,  and  with  an  air 
of  unconcern,  on  the  ends  of  the  broken  columns;  while 
others  still,  pushing  forward  far  into  the  interior,  at- 
tempted to  awaken  the  echoes  of  the  cavern  by  shouts 
and  outcries  ;  though  these  efforts  were  almost  in  vain, 
for  the  tremendous  roaring  of  the  surges  drowned  their 
voices,  and  filled  the  cavern  with  a  continual  thunder. 

One  stands  in  such  a  scene  mute  and  motionless, 
having  nothing  to  say  and  nothing  to  do,  and  no  wish 
but  to  be  left  undisturbed.  This  wish,  however,  in  our 
case,  could  not  be  granted.  Our  guide  soon  sent  us  in 
word  that  our  time  had  expired  ;  that  the  tide  was  ris- 
ing, making  it  every  moment  more  and  more  difficult 
for  us  to  embark.  These  orders  were  passed  from  one 
to  another  along  the  line,  partly  by  vociferations  and 
gesticulations,  the  former  rendered  almost  inaudible  by 
the  thundering  reverberations  of  the  cavern.  In  obe- 
dience to  them,  our  long  procession  began,  according- 
ly, to  move  out  in  reverse  order,  some,  however,  lin- 
gering in  niches  and  corners  while  the  rest  went  by. 
We  returned  to  the  foot  of  the  stair-case  as  we  came, 
along  the  edge  of  the  water,  on  the  tops  of  the  broken 
columns,  taking  care  to  keep  close  under  the  cliffs,  to 
avoid  the  surf  which  dashed  up  from  .the  sea.  We 
mounted  the  giddy  stair-way,  retraced  our  steps  over 
the  green  pasturage  above,  and  embarked  in  the  boats 
as  we  had  landed,  the  boatmen  and  some  of  the  pas- 
sengers getting,  in  the  operation,  half  submerged  in  the 
swell. 

We  returned  to  Oban  by  a  more  northerly  route  than 
the  one  we  had  taken  in  coming  out  in  the  morning. 
It  led  us  through  narrow  channels  and  passages,  where 
we  were  protected  from  the  sea.    High  mountains  and 


STAFFA   AND  lONA. 


241 


Thoughts  on  rain.       Scotch  fireside.        Oatmeal  porridge.        Horn  spoon. 

islands  were  all  around  us,  their  tops  enveloped  in 
clouds  and  mists,  which  gradually  thickened  and  de- 
scended, and  at  length  came  sweeping  over  the  water 
in  incessant  gusts  of  wind  and  rain.  We  were  all, 
however,  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  weather,  having 
had  smiles  and  sunshine  as  long  as  they  were  needed  ; 
there  is,  in  fact,  a  sort  of  feeling  of  relief  and  pleasure 
in  these  latitudes,  in  having  it  begin  to  rain  as  soon  as 
you  reach  a  place  of  shelter.  Good  weather  is  so  rare 
and  valuable  that  you  can  not  help  feeling  something 
like  a  wish  to  economize  it ;  and  warmth  and  sunshine 
which  come  upon  you  when  you  are  in  a  place  of 
shelter  seem  a  sort  of  extravagance  and  waste,  which 
will  have  to  be  atoned  for  by  future  want.  So  we  wel- 
comed the  rain,  thinking  that  it  would  entitle  us  to  a 
fair  and  sunny  sky  when  we  needed  it  more. 

I  was  cold  and  uncomfortable,  however,  when  I  got 
to  my  room.  My  motherly  landlady  built  me  a  peat 
fire  in  the  little  grate,  and  brought  me  a  supper  of  hot 
oatmeal  porridge,  apologizing  for  the  spoon  with  which 
it  was  served,  by  saying,  "  I  dinna  ken  whether  ye  can 
eat  wi'  a  horn  spoon,  but  I  hae  na  ither."  Her  ar- 
rangements, however,  simple  as  they  were,  needed  no 
apology.  I  drew  up  the  table  to  the  fire,  lighted  the 
candle,  rolled  down  the  curtain,  and  betook  myself  to 
my  supper  and  to  the  horn  spoon  with  a  more  decided 
sensation  of  being  at  home  than  I  had  experienced  be- 
fore since  leaving  my  own  study  in  mv  native  land. 

X 


242 


SUMMEll  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Ben  Nevis.  Ben  Macdhu.  The  clouds.  Copach. 


LETTER  XIII. 

BEN  NEVIS. 

August  25. 

Ben  Nevis  has  always  been  considered  the  highest 
mountain  in  Scotland.  There  is  another,  further  in- 
land, called  Ben  Macdhu,  vv^hich  is  very  nearly  of  the 
same  elevation ;  and  measurements  by  the  barometer 
sometimes  make  one  the  highest  and  sometimes  the 
other.  Ben  Nevis,  hov^^ever,  rises  abruptly  from  the 
very  level  of  the  sea,  the  tide  ebbing  and  flowing  up 
Loch  Linhee  to  its  base  ;  so  that,  when  you  have  at- 
tained its  summit,  you  look  down  to  greater  depths  all 
around  you  than  you  would  from  a  mountain  in  the  in- 
terior of  greater  absolute  height,  but  resting  upon,  and 
surrounded  by,  a  tract  of  elevated  land. 

Ben  Nevis  is  said  to  be  always  covered  with  snow, 
or,  rather,  always  to  retain  snow  in  the  vast  chasms 
and  under  the  precipices  of  the  northern  side.  Its 
summit  is  certainly  almost  always  enveloped  in  clouds 
and  storms.  This  circumstance  prevents  its  being  oft- 
en ascended.  As  we  approached  it,  coming  up  Loch 
Linhee,  one  sunny  morning,  its  head  was,  as  usual,  con- 
cealed in  mists.  All  the  other  mountains  around  us 
were  visible ;  but  Ben  Nevis,  which  we  looked  for 
anxiously,  could  not  be  made  out ;  we  only  knew  that 
its  head  was  somewhere  among  the  fleecy  clouds  which 
were  floating  in  that  quarter  of  the  sky. 

We  landed  about  noon  at  a  httle  village  adjoining 
Fort  William,  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  loch.  The 
steamer,  after  leaving  a  few  of  her  passengers  on  the 
pier,  proceeded  about  two  miles  further,  to  the  head  of 


BEN  NEVIS. 


243 


Fort  William.  Ascent  of  the  hills.  The  three  valleys. 

the  loch,  where  is  the  entrance  to  the  Caledonian  Ca- 
nal. The  village  occupied  a  narrow  strip  of  level  land 
along  the  shore,  and  there  was  a  mountain  range  im- 
mediately behind  it.  After  getting  established  at  the 
inn,  I  found  that  the  clouds  were  gradually  disappear- 
ing from  the  sky ;  and,  as  it  was  too  late  to  commence 
the  ascent  of  Ben  Nevis  that  day,  I  concluded  to  climb 
up  these  lower  mountains  behind  the  village,  in  order 
to  take  a  general  survey  of  the  surrounding  country, 
and -in  hopes,  also,  of  getting  a  view  of  the  great  peak 
itself,  which  I  knew  must  be  towering  beyond  them. 

Fort  William  is  at  the  junction  of  three  great  val- 
leys :  one,  coming  up  from  the  south,  is  filled  from  side 
to  side  with  the  waters  of  Loch  Linhee  ;  another,  ex- 
tending toward  the  west,  is  occupied  with  Loch  Eil ; 
and  a  third,  toward  the  northeast,  is  the  great  glen  of 
Scotland,  extending  entirely  across  the  island  from 
Fort  William  to  Inverness,  and  carrying  the  Caledoni- 
an Canal.  The  junction  of  ^these  three  valleys  forms 
an  extensive  tract  of  land  and  water,  level  and  low, 
which  you  look  down  upon  from  any  of  the  eminences 
in  the  vicinity.  I  found,  accordingly,  as  I  gradually 
attained  a  higher  and  higher  elevation,  that  my  view 
of  these  lochs  and  tracts  of  level  land  was  widening 
and  extending  in  every  direction.*  Below  me  lay  the 
village,  with  its  little  pier  extending  into  the  water. 
A  boat  was  here  and  there  to  be  seen,  moving  slowly 
by  its  oars  over  the  smooth  surface.  The  whole  course 
of  the  steamer  to  its  landing,  two  miles  above,  at  the 
entrance  to  the  canal,  was  in  view ;  and  the  little  vil- 
lage itself,  which  is  called  Corpach,  with  its  white  walls 


*  The  hill  here  referred  to  is  represented  on  the  right,  in  the  engraving 
of  Ben  Nevis,  a  few  pages  forward. 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  Caledonian  Canal.  Desolate  scene. 

among  the  trees,  and  the  red  chimney  of  the  steamer 
among  the  masts  at  its  pier,  were  visible.  I  kept  a 
careful  look-out  in  this  direction,  for  I  had  left  my  guide- 
book on  board  ;  and,  as  the  boat  was  to  come  back  that 
afternoon,  in  about  two  hours  from  the  time  I  com- 
menced my  ascent,  I  meant  to  set  out  on  my  return  as 
soon  as  I  saw  her  in  motion,  judging  that  I  could  get 
down  the  mountain  in  the  time  which  it  would  take  her 
to  come  two  miles  over  the  water. 

From  the  point  where  the  steamer  was  lying,  I 
could  trace  the  line  of  the  Caledonian  Canal  for  many 
miles  through  a  broad  and  beautiful  valley  ornamented 
with  trees  and  villages.  Besides  the  canal,  there  was 
a  river  meandering  along  the  meadows,  with  roads 
accompanying  and  crossing  it.  Of  course,  every  half 
hour,  as  I  ascended,  brought  all  these  scenes  more  and 
more  directly  beneath  my  feet. 

After  ascending  for  some  time,  I  came  to  the  top  of 
a  sort  of  brow  of  the  mountain,  with  a  broad  and  shal- 
low valley  between  it  and  the  higher  land  beyond.  In 
this  valley  were  several  ancient-looking  stone  huts, 
and  ruins  of  others,  and  marks  of  old  walls  and  fields, 
once  cultivated,  but  now  boggy  and  desolate.  The  air 
was  perfectly  calm  and  still,  with  a  certain  state  of  the 
atmosphere  sometimes  experienced  in  a  summer's  day, 
when  sounds  can  be  heard  at  a  great  distance.  While 
I  was  surveying  the  desolate-looking  scene  before  me, 
I  heard  voices  like  those  of  children,  which  seemed  to 
come  from  the  mountain  side.  I  looked  a  long  time  in 
vain  before  I  could  discover  where  these  sounds  could 
come  from.  At  last  I  saw,  at  a  great  distance,  two 
moving  figures,  barely  perceptible,  coming  down  the 
face  of  the  mountain.    I  went  toward  them,  and  met 


BEN  NEVrS. 


245 


The  little  peat-bearers.  View  of  the  summit.  Beautiful  valley. 

them,  at  length,  at  the  foot  of  the  descent.  They  were 
two  boys,  bringing  down  peat  from  the  top  of  the 
mountain.  The  peat  was  in  bags,  strapped  upon  their 
backs,  the  burden  being,  in  each  case,  bigger  than  the 
bearer  of  it.  They  staggered  along  under  the  weight, 
but  stopped  when  I  accosted  them,  and  turned  up  their 
eyes  to  me — their  loads  preventing  any  motion  of  the 
head — with  a  very  contented  and  satisfied  look.  I 
asked  them  if  they  were  not  loaded  too  heavily ;  and 
they  answered,  "  Ho  !  no,  sir,"  in  a  tone  implying  great 
confidence  in  their  physical  powers. 

I  went  on,  and  began  to  clamber  up  the  steep  which 
they  had  just  descended,  and  found,  as  I  came  out  at  the 
top  of  it,  a  vast  summit  beyond,  rising  into  view,  mark- 
ed by  characteristics  which  declared  it  to  be  Ben 
Nevis  itself,  without  any  question.  It  was  wild  and 
savage  in  form,  and  frosted  all  over  with  a  hoary  cov- 
ering, which  seemed  too  gray  to  be  snow,  and  too  white 
for  stone.  It  had  that  expression  of  desolate  and  awful 
majesty  with  which  summits  that  rise  above  the  limits 
of  animal  and  vegetable  life,  when  you  have  a  near 
and  distinct  view  of  them,  are  always  invested. 

When  I  came  fairly  out  upon  the  top  of  the  mountain 
which  I  had  been  ascending,  there  gradually  came  into 
view  another  scene,  equally  striking,  though  of  a  very 
diflferent  character.  It  was  a  narrow,  deep,  and  beau- 
tiful valley,  lying  far  below  me,  between  the  mountain 
on  which  I  stood  and  the  broad  slopes  of  Ben  Nevis 
beyond.  The  bottom  of  the  valley  was  green  and  fer- 
tile, with  a  little  river  meandering  through  it,  and  a 
road,  which  appeared  here  and  there  like  a  narrow  foot- 
path, and  in  other  places  was  lost  among  the  trees. 
Little  cottages  were  scattered  along  among  the  fields 

X  2 


246 


SUMMER   IN  SCOTLAND. 


Glen  Nevis.  Top  of  the  mountains.  Race  with  the  steamer. 

and  gardens,  and  one  quite  elegant  dwelling,  surround- 
ed by  plantations  of  trees,  and  approached  by  hand- 
some avenues,  was  evidently  the  residence  of  the  laird. 
The  beautiful  verdure  of  this  glen — which  is  called  Glen 
Nevis — contrasted  strongly  with  the  gray  and  barren 
desolation  of  Ben  Nevis  and  the  neighboring  summits, 
[t  had  a  charming  expression  of  peace,  and  quiet,  and 
plenty,  though  exposed,  apparently,  to  awfully  impend- 
ing dangers  of  falling  rocks  or  avalanches  from  the 
heights  above.  I  could  overlook  the  whole  of  Glen 
Nevis  for  many  miles,  till  at  last  it  became  lost  in  ra- 
vines and  wooded  valleys  in  the  mountains  beyond. 

The  top  of  the  range  where  I  stood  was  a  broad  swell 
of  land,  covered  with  peat  bogs,  morasses,  and  old  ex- 
cavations, filled  with  black,  stagnant  water.  The  range 
terminated  suddenly  on  the  north,  where  it  looked  to- 
ward a  great  plain.  Thus,  by  walking  around  on  the 
brow,  I  could  look  down  on  the  eastern  side  into  Glen 
Nevis,  on  the  western  to  the  village  from  which  I  had 
ascended,  and  to  the  northward  into  the  great  valley 
ten  miles  broad,  through  which  passes  the  canal.  As 
I  walked  around  surveying  these  scenes,  keeping  a 
constant  watch  in  the  direction  from  which  the  steam- 
boat was  to  come,  suddenly  the  sound  of  her  steam, 
and  soon  after  that  of  the  tolling  of  her  bell,  began  to 
come  to  me  over  the  water.  I  immediately  set  out  on 
my  return.  The  boat  came  out  from  the  pier,  two 
miles  distant,  and  I  began  a  rapid  descent.  We  ar- 
rived at  the  pier,  at  the  end  of  half  an  hour,  within  half 
a  minute  of  each  other. 

The  next  morning  at  nine  o'clock  I  set  out  for  the 
ascent  of  the  mountain.    My  road  led  at  first  up  the 


BEN  NEVIS. 


247 


The  bridge.  English  officer.  Steep  ascent. 

village,  around  the  northern  end  of  the  range  which  I 
had  ascended  the  day  before  to  the  opening  into  Glen 
Nevis.  I  set  out  alone  :  the  guide  was  to  follow  me 
with  the  necessary  supplies,  and  I  was  to  wait  for  him 
at  "  the  bridge."  This  bridge,  as  I  found,  was  one 
across  the  River  Nevis,  where  it  issues  from  the  glen 
in  the  broad,  open  valley.  I  sat  upon  the  parapet  and 
talked  fifteen  minutes  with  an  officer  of  artillery,  who 
had  arrived  a  day  or  two  before  with  a  detachment  to 
fire  salutes  and  conduct  other  military  operations  in 
honor  of  the  queen  at  her  landing  here  next  week.  My 
guide  soon  came  up,  and,  crossing  the  bridge,  we  fol- 
lowed the  road  for  some  distance,  and  at  length  took  a 
foot-path  across  a  sort  of  moor,  passing  by  several  mis- 
erable-looking shepherd's  huts,  the  land  rising  gradu- 
ally more  and  more,  until  it  became  as  steep  as  the 
toughest  greensward  could  stand.  There  was  no  path 
— nothing  but  a  broad  expanse  of  pasturage  ;  and  no 
footing  except  the  slight  inequalities  of  such  a  surface  ; 
and,  of  course,  the  labor  of  the  ascent  was  extreme. 
There  was  no  danger,  in  fact,  because,  in  case  of  a  mis- 
step, there  were  roughnesses  and  inequalities  enough 
in  the  ground  to  save  one  from  sliding  down  very  far. 
Still,  as  the  grass  was  slippery,  and  as  at  a  little  dis- 
tance on  every  side  the  little  inequalities  disappeared, 
and  the  surface  looked  smooth  ;  and  as  there  was  noth- 
ing growing  larger  than  a  brake,  to  suggest  even  to 
the  imagination  the  idea  of  support,  ihe  falling  sensa- 
tion gets  to  be  pretty  decided  by  the  time  one  has  as- 
cended five  or  six  hundred  feet.  The  whole  height  of 
the  slope  may  be  eight  hundred  or  a  thousand. 

We  passed  sheep  occasionally,  grazing  quietly  ;  and 
when  about  half  way  up,  the  guide,  who  was  at  some 


248 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  shepherd  and  his  sheep.        Sagacity  of  the  dogs.        Magnificent  views. 

little  distance  before  me,  called  out  that  he  could  see  a 
shepherd  above  us.  It  was  difficult  to  look  in  that  di- 
rection, as  it  required  throwing  back  the  head  in  a  man- 
ner which  threatened  to  make  one  lose  his  balance,  and 
go  rolling  down  the  hill.  I  at  length,  however,  got  a 
view  of  him,  a  mere  moving  dot  on  the  surface,  which 
began  to  appear  more  gray  toward  the  summit  of  the 
hill.  The  shepherd  went  on  ascending  as  we  did,  and 
we  could  occasionally  hear  the  shrill  whistle,  faint  and 
distant,  with  which  he  signaled  his  orders  to  his  dogs. 
The  shepherds  were  out  that  morning  to  collect  the 
sheep  for  the  purpose  of  separating  them  from  the  lambs. 
We  kept  him  in  sight  for  a  long  time,  but  at  length  our 
path  diverged  from  his,  and  he  disappeared  from  view; 
though  we  afterward  got  a  distant  view  of  him  de- 
scending, his  dog  driving  the  sheep  before  him.  The 
dog  would  proceed  a  little  way,  and  then  stop  and  look 
back,  and  wait  for  his  master,  to  see  whether  he  was 
right;  and,  on  receiving  new  orders,  would  go  on  again, 
driving  his  charge  to  the  right  or  to  the  left,  or  direct- 
ly forward,  according  to  the  signals  given  him. 

In  about  two  hours  we  reached  the  top  of  this  as- 
cent, and  came  out  upon  a  great  mountain  brow,  from 
which,  on  some  sides,  we  had  magnificent  views  of  the 
low  country  around,  and  on  others  the  land  extended 
in  broad  tracts,  from  which  other  mountains  arose,  as 
from  the  plain.  We  wound  around  the  base  of  a  large 
hill,*  enjoying  the  walk  on  level  ground  as  a  luxury. 
The  ground,  however,  though  level,  was  far  from  being 
smooth,  and  there  was  no  path.  In  fact,  our  march 
was  a  tramp  over  bogs,  mire-holes,  and  tufts  of  moss 
and  heather,  until  we  came  to  the  shore  of  a  calm  and 


*  Where  the  path  disappears  from  view  in  the  engraving. 


BEN  NEVIS. 


251 


Tlie  hanging  lake.  Second  slope.  Stone  elides. 

placid  little  lake  under  the  hill  above  alluded  to.  Its 
shores  were  low  and  green,  without  a  tree,  or  even  a 
shrub,  upon  the  margin.  It  seemed,  too,  to  rest  very 
insecurely  there,  for  the  land  fell  off  suddenly  a  thou- 
sand feet,  at  a  little  distance  from  each  end  of  it,  and 
with  scarcely  any  rising  ground  between.  Yet  there 
the  little  loch  has  laid,  perched  between  the  heavens 
and  the  earth,  for  four  thousand  years ;  and  it  holds 
its  place  for  the  future  by  as  secure  a  tenure  as  any 
thing  beneath  the  sun. 

We  stepped  over  a  brisk  little  brook  which  issued 
from  the  northern  end  of  the  loch,  and  looked  toward 
an  enormous  gray  mountain  rising  before  us,  which  I 
said  to  the  guide  I  supposed  was  Ben  Nevis.  "  Oh, 
no,"  said  he,  "  Ben  Nevis  is  not  in  sight  yet.  It  is  be- 
yond that  peak  entirely."  "  How  far  ?"  asked  I.  "  About 
two  miles."  He  said,  moreover,  that  the  eminences 
which  we  had  yet  to  ascend  were  steeper  and  harder 
than  the  first.  Somewhat  discouraged  by  this  account, 
I  advanced  with  him  to  the  foot  of  the  second  mount- 
ain. This  proved  to  be  not  more  steep,  and  it  certain- 
ly was  not  more  difficult  than  the  first.  The  whole 
side  of  it  was  formed  of  slides  of  loose  stones,  which 
looked  like  sand  and  gravel,  when  we  looked  up  to 
them  from  below,  but  which  proved,  when  we  reached 
them,  to  be  formed  of  angular  rocks,  from  the  size  of  a 
man's  head  to  that  of  a  barrel.  They  were  all  loose 
and  in  a  sliding  condition  ;  and  if  one  a  little  less  an- 
gular than  the  rest  were  set  in  motion,  it  would  roll  a 
great  way  down  the  declivity,  carrying  sometimes  a 
mass  of  smaller  fragments  in  its  train.  Sometimes, 
cOo,  the  stones  on  which  we  stepped  would  start  down 
a  little,  suggesting  the  question  to  the  clamberer  what 


SUMMER   IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  debris.  Shepherd  in  the  kilt.  Highland  dress. 

would  become  of  him  in  case  of  a  general  slide.  There 
was,  however,  obviously  no  real  danger  of  this,  as  ev- 
ery thing  indicated  that  the  only  motion  to  which  this 
species  of  debris  was  subject  must  be  a  slow,  grinding 
descent,  from  the  influence  of  frost  and  snow,  and,  per- 
haps, of  mountain  torrents  in  the  winter  and  spring. 

In  fact,  the  stones  very  seldom  moved,  but  gave  us, 
by  dint  of  a  little  care  in  selection,  a  square  and  stable 
footing,  much  more  satisfactory  than  the  slippery  slope 
of  the  grass  on  the  side  of  the  mountain  below.  There 
were  patches  of  green  here  and  there  on  the  lower 
portions  of  this  second  ascent,  on  the  upper  part  of  one 
of  which  the  guide  pointed  out  to  me  another  shepherd 
coming  down  the  rocks.  "  And  I  think,"  said  he,  "  it 
will  be  the  kilt  that  this  one  has  got  on."  The  kilt  is 
a  sort  of  apron,  or  frock,  plaited  very  full,  and  coming 
down  nearly  to  the  knees.  There  is  a  kind  of  coat  or 
jacket  worn  over  it  above ;  and  sometimes  shoes  and 
stockings,  of  a  peculiar  fashion,  and  having  peculiar 
names,  are  worn  too.  The  boys  and  young  men,  how- 
ever, of  the  common  classes,  when  they  wear  the  High- 
land dress,  have  nothing  but  the  kilt  and  jacket.  We 
talked  about  the  Highland  dress,  the  guide  explaining 
all  its  parts  and  peculiarities.  He  closed  by  saying, 
"  Ye  wad  think  it  would  be  cauld,  but  when  ye  are 
ance  used  to  it,  it  is  joost  as  comfortable  as  if  ye  had 
claes  on."  This  dress  had  gone  entirely  out  of  use, 
except  on  gala  occasions,  but  is  now  returning  a  little. 
They  are  all  making  a  great  effort  to  get  fitted  up  in  it 
now  in  this  vicinity,  to  be  ready  to  receive  the  queen 
in  the  old  Highland  style.  But,  after  all,  they  do  not 
become  Highlanders  by  the  transformation.  They  are 
still  Lowland  men,  with  Lowland  ideas  and  pursuits, 


BEN  NEVIS. 


253 


Clouds.  Summit  of  the  second  range.  Mists. 

assuming  the  garb  of  an  ancestry  whose  character  and 
habits  are  forever  gone. 

There  had  been  all  the  morning  floating  clouds  in 
various  parts  of  the  sky,  and  we  had  been  gradually 
getting  nearer  and  nearer  into  their  neighborhood,  but 
thus  far  there  had  been  nothing  to  intercept  the  view. 
We  were  continually  opening  vistas  into  new  valleys ; 
and  summits  and  ranges,  which  we  had  been  looking 
up  to,  were  brought,  one  by  one,  below  our  horizon. 
We  had  stopped  occasionally  at  mountain  streams  for 
rest  and  a  drink,  and  to  let  the  guide  light  his  pipe ; 
and  thus,  in  four  hours  from  the  time  of  leaving  our 
inn,  we  reached  the  summit  of  the  second  great  eleva- 
tion on  our  way  ;  and  as  we  gradually  came  around 
the  great  shoulder  which  we  had  been  ascending 
obliquely,  where  we  should  have  come  in  view  of  the 
highest  summit,  we  saw  that  we  were  rapidly  drawing 
near  to  the  under  surface  of  a  great  fleecy  cloud,  which 
was  slowly  floating  along  the  sky.  Moving  masses  of 
mist  were  beginning  to  intercept  the  view  of  rocky 
slopes  and  glens  above  and  beyond  us.  The  guide 
looked  about  doubtfully.  He  was  "sorry  to  see  the 
mist."  It  was  dangerous  to  attempt  the  last  part  of  the 
ascent  in  a  "  dark  mist,"  on  account  of  the  precipices 
which  one  was  constantly  coming  upon  suddenly  and 
unawares.  I  told  him  we  would  go  on  for  the  present, 
at  any  rate  ;  when  he  said,  after  standing  a  moment  in 
silence,  gazing  toward  the  distant  rocks  above  us,  "  I 
see  a  gentleman  up  there !"  "  Where  ?"  asked  I.  "  Yon 
is  he,  in  the  mist ;  and  he's  got  the  wrong  road." 

While  I  was  trying  to  get  a  sight  of  the  stranger, 
musing,  all  the  time,  on  the  absurdity  of  speaking  of  a 
road  in  a  region  where  I  had  not  seen  the  least  sem- 

Y 


254 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


A  stranger  on  the  mountain.  Accouterments.  The  well. 

blance  of  a  track  for  miles,  the  guide  gave  a  long,  shrill 
whistle.  The  stranger  stopped,  and  seemed  to  be 
looking  toward  us.  He  was,  however,  still  so  distant 
that  we  could  do  nothing  more  than  distinguish  a  human 
form,  and  perceive  the  difference  between  rest  and  mo- 
tion. He  had  taken  his  seat,  however,  upon  the  rocks, 
to  await  our  approach.  We  got  up  to  him  after  ten  or 
fifteen  minutes'  laborious  climbing.  I  found,  as  I  ap- 
proached, a  gentleman  in  the  dress  of  a  tourist.  His 
tartan  was  strapped  to  his  back,  and  his  spy-glass  at  his 
side.  He  was  armed  with  his  landlady's  coal-hammer, 
which  he  had  borrowed  to  crack  up  specimens  of  por- 
phyry from  the  summit  of  the  mountain.  Upon  my 
asking  him  if  he  was  wandering  about  at  that  elevation 
alone,  he  said  yes,  that  he  was  accustomed  to  the  mount- 
ains. He  set  out  that  morning  to  find  his  own  way  to 
the  summit,  but  having  reached  his  present  elevation, 
and  finding  the  summit  was  in  the  clouds,  he  was  only 
wandering  about  to  amuse  himself,  and  was  about  to 
return. 

Among  his  other  apparatus  for  mountain  excursions, 
he  had  a  metal  flask,  containing  a  supply  of  whisky.  It 
had  a  stopper  which  went  on  with  a  screw,  and  over 
the  stopper  there  was  a  cover,  likewise  of  metal,  which 
shut  down  half  the  length  of  the  flask.  This  cover, 
when  taken  off,  served  for  a  cup  to  drink  either  the 
whisky  or  water  from  the  springs.  The  stranger 
seemed  disposed  to  join  us  for  the  remainder  of  the  ex- 
cursion ;  and  so  we  all  adjourned  together  to  a  place 
a  little  further  up,  where  the  guide  told  us  we  should 
find  a  well,  called  the  half-way  well,  because  it  was  half 
way  from  the  bottom  to  the  top  of  the  mountain. 

When  we  arrived  at  the  well,  and  had  taken  our 


BEN  NEVIS. 


255 


Extraordinary  scene.  Cairns.  The  sappers. 

seats,  we  began  to  look  around  us  upon  a  very  extraor- 
dinary scene.  We  were  upon  the  side  of  a  gentle  de- 
clivity, at  a  great  elevation  ;  in  fact,  just  upon  the  under 
edge  of  a  summer  cloud,  with  broad  fields  of  porphy- 
ritic  stones,  blanched  by  the  rains  and  snows  of  twen- 
ty centuries,  extending  on  every  side  all  around  us. 
There  was  no  trace  of  vegetation,  except  discolored 
spots  upon  the  stones,  which  botanists  would  class  as 
lichens.  The  well,  as  the  guide  called  it,  was  a  hollow 
among  these  stones,  where  a  subterranean  brook  made 
its  appearance  for  a  moment,  and  was  then  lost  again, 
though  we  could  hear  its  gurgling  many  feet  beneath 
the  surface,  both  above  and  below  the  well.  Two  or 
three  loose  boards,  poised  upon  the  stones,  answered 
for  seats.  There  was  a  caij^n  at  a  little  distance,  with 
a  pole  in  the  center,  and  a  square  plate  of  rusty  iron 
fastened  to  the  top  of  it.  It  was  placed  there  by  "  the 
sappers,"  probably  as  a  guide  to  enable  them  to  find 
"the  well.  A  detachment  of  the  sappers,  a  corps  of 
the  British  army,  trained  to  the  performance  of  all  sorts 
of  mathematical  and  engineering  operations,  had  had 
a  station  on  this  mountain  for  a  long  time,  to  take  the 
bearings  of  a  great  many  other  mountain  summits,  with 
a  view  to  making  what  is  called  a  trigonometrical  sur- 
vey oi  the  whole  country.  While  they  were  here,  men 
were  stationed  on  various  other  summits,  within  a  cir- 
cle of  fifty  miles  or  more,  to  "  reflect  to  them,"  as  they 
call  it ;  that  is,  to  reflect  the  rays  of  the  sun  by  a  mir- 
ror, the  light  thus  produced  being  visible  at  a  greater 
distance  than  any  other  signal.  They  could  see  these 
glimmering  lights  on  the  distant  mountains,  and  so  ob- 
tain the  angular  distances  of  each  peak  from  the  others 
with  great  precision.    While  they  were  here,  they  had 


256 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


A  dinner  on  the  mountains.  The  sapper  coming  down. 

a  movable  house  on  the  summit,  and  stores  of  provi- 
sions, and  a  great  apparatus  of  instruments,  vv^hich  it 
required  a  great  deal  of  labor  to  transport  up  and  dov^^n. 
They  had,  hovi^ever,  now  been  gone  from  Ben  Nevis 
some  months,  leaving  only  some  remaining  traces  of 
their  encampment,  and  a  man  to  go  up,  when  the  weath- 
er was  favorable,  to  "  reflect  to  them"  at  Ben  Macdhu, 
where  they  were  now  encamped. 

It  was  past  twelve  o'clock,  and  we  ate  the  mountain 
dinner,  which  the  guide  had  brought  up,  with  a  much 
better  appetite  than  is  usual  at  the  more  sumptuous  re- 
pasts in  the  saloon  of  the  steamer  on  the  Atlantic.  We 
drank  the  water  of  the  well  from  our  companion's  flask 
cover,  and  from  my  quaich,  which  the  guide  said  was 
"  a  very  bonnie  one."  After  half  an  hour  spent  in  this 
way,  we  resumed  our  march,  and  went  on  over  the 
stony  fields  before  us  up  into  the  cloud. 

We  had  not  proceeded  far  before  our  guide,  who 
was  always  on  the  alert,  and  who  saw  every  thing  be- 
fore we  did,  called  out  to  us  that  there  was  the  sapper 
coming  down  the  mountain.  We  looked  before  us, 
and  saw  a  red  figure  among  the  rocks  far  above,  and 
slowly  making  its  way  down.  As  the  man  approach- 
ed, we  found  him  to  be  a  soldier-like  looking  man,  in 
the  red  uniform  of  the  British  army.  He  stopped  and 
talked  with  us  for  some  time,  giving  us  interesting  in- 
formation about  the  operations  of  his  corps,  and  his  opin- 
ion about  the  prospect  of  the  weather  for  the  day.  He 
had  left  his  quarters  in  the  valley  at  four  o'clock  that 
morning,  and  had  been  waiting  on  the  mountain  until 
he  had  given  up  all  hope  of  being  able  to  "  reflect'*  to 
Ben  Macdhu  that  day,  and  was,  accordingly,  now  re- 
turning.   He  was  a  fine-looking  and  intelligent  man, 


BEN  NEVIS. 


257 


Chasms.  Mountain  echoes. 

and  after  spending  fifteen  minutes  very  agreeably  in 
talking  with  him,  we  went  on  our  several  ways. 

The  ascent  from  this  point  was  without  any  difficul- 
ty, though  the  way  was,  of  course,  extremely  rough. 
The  sappers  had  raised  little  piles  of  stones,  at  distan- 
ces of  a  few  hundred  yards  from  each  other,  to  mark 
out  the  way  in  case  of  their  getting  enveloped  in  thick 
fogs  or  rain.  We  followed  the  line  of  these  little  mon- 
uments, ascending  continually,  with  broad  fields  of  gray- 
ish white  stones  extending  on  either  hand,  until  the 
view  was  lost  in  the  mists.  At  length  we  came  sud- 
denly into  view  of  an  enormous  chasm,  yawning  be- 
neath us  on  the  left,  and  revealing  the  existence  of  a 
frightful  precipice  on  that  side.  We  could  look  down 
a  few  hundred  feet,  when  the  view  was  obstructed  by 
the  mists  floating  along  the  rocks  below.  The  guide 
took  a  stone  as  big  as  a  man's  head  and  threw  it  down. 
We  could  hear  it  crashing,  and  thundering,  and  awak- 
ening the  mountain  echoes  so  long,  that  I  asked  him  to 
repeat  the  experiment  while  I  observed  the  time  by  my 
watch.  It  was,  in  the  case  of  the  second  trial,  forty- 
five  seconds  before  we  ceased  to  hear  the  sound,  and 
then  whether  the  stone  came  to  its  resting-place  and 
stopped,  or  only  ceased  to  be  heard  on  account  of  the 
distance  of  its  motion,  we  could  not  tell.  We  passed 
afterward  several  more  of  these  frightful  chasms,  which 
were  great  indentations  from  the  precipice  into  the 
mass  of  the  mountain.  Our  stranger  companion  ad- 
vanced toward  the  brink  of  one  of  them,  and  said  that 
he  believed  he  could  go  dowm.  The  guide  turned 
away  and  walked  composedly  along,  saying,  "  If  ye 
suld  gang  doon  there,  either  by  accident  or  on  purpose, 
ye  wad  never  be  worth  picking  up."  I  ought  to  say, 
Y2 


258 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  Bummit.  Its  surface.  High  cairn. 

however,  in  justice  to  the  stranger,  that  when  he  sug- 
gested the  idea  of  his  descending,  it  was  before  we 
rolled  the  stones  down. 

At  length  we  reached  the  summit.  It  consisted  of  a 
very  extensive  field  of  stones,  wedged  together,  and 
forming,  in  general,  a  tolerably  smooth  and  level  sur- 
face, with  depressions  here  and  there,  which  had  every 
appearance  of  the  stones  having  settled  together,  as  if 
by  the  washing  out,  or  washing  away,  of  what  w^as  be- 
low. At  the  highest  part  was  a  monstrous  cairn,  a  sort 
of  Tower  of  Babel,  twenty  or  thirty  feet  high,  and  ta- 
pering toward  the  top.  It  was  laid  up  very  neatly, 
and  built  in  such  a  manner,  with  projecting  shelves,  as 
to  make  it  not  difficult  to  climb  to  the  top.  In  reach- 
ing the  summit  of  the  mountain  we  had  passed  up  to 
where  the  atmosphere  was  serene  again,  and  we  had 
now  a  clear  sky  and  a  bright  sun  over  our  heads  ;  so 
that,  by  climbing  up  to  the  top  of  the  cairn,  we  had  all 
around  us,  far  and  near,  a  magnificent  prospect  of — 
the  upper  surface  of  the  cloud  ! 

The  guide  seemed  very  quiet  and  unconcerned  at 
this  result ;  but  our  guest,  as  I  may  call  him — I  never 
learned  his  name — was  much  disappointed,  and  was 
continually  expressing  his  vexation.  For  my  part,  I 
rather  agreed  with  the  guide  ;  and  we  sat  down  by  the 
side  of  the  cairn,  enjoying  the  balmy  air,  the  quiet  re- 
pose, the  stillness,  the  solitude,  and  the  strange  aspect 
of  awful  desolation  which  reigned  around.  We  went 
to  the  brink  of  the  precipice  on  the  north,  and  traced 
the  ragged  outlines  of  the  rocks  down  until  they  were 
lost  in  the  cloud  below.  We  examined  the  rocks,  and 
selected  specimens  of  the  porphyry,  and  puzzled  our- 
selves in  vain  to  account  for  such  an  enormous  mass 


BEN  NEVIS. 


259 


Comparative  elevation.  The  descent.  "  Fog." 

of  fragments  spreading  over  such  extensive  fields,  on 
such  a  summit.  We  enjoyed  the  thought  of  the  great 
height  which  we  had  attained  above  the  surrounding 
country,  though  we  were  prevented  from  forming  any 
very  exalted  ideas  of  our  elevation,  by  reflecting  that, 
after  all  our  climbing,  we  were  yet  not  a  great  deal 
above  the  level  of  the  bottom  of  the  Valley  of  Chamou- 
ni,  from  which  travelers  commence  the  ascent  of  the 
Alps.    At  length  we  set  out  on  our  return. 

We  followed  the  line  marked  out  by  the  monuments 
made  by  the  sappers  until  we  returned  to  the  well. 
The  attention  of  the  guide  was  at  one  time  attracted 
by  something  black  among  the  rocks,  at  some  distance 
above  us  on  the  right,  which  looked,  as  he  said,  like 
clothes  ;  and  we  stopped  while  he  went  to  see  what  it 
was,  as  there  was  a  bare  possibility  of  its  being  a  hu- 
man being  in  distress.  We  watched  both  him  and  the 
object  which  he  was  going  to  examine,  as  he  clamber- 
ed up  to  it,  and  our  imaginations  had  given  it  quite  dis- 
tinctly the  form  of  a  man  lying  helpless  on  the  stones, 
when  we  saw  him  proceed  steadily  up  to  it,  stoop  down, 
and  very  deliberately  pull  off  its  head.  He  immediate- 
ly turned  about  and  came  back  toward  us,  the  head  in 
his  hand.  When  he  came  to  us  he  threw  down  at  our 
feet  a  large  mass  of  a  peculiar  kind  of  soft  and  spongy 
moss,  saying,  "  It  is  nothing  but  fog."  I  put  a  tuft  of 
the  "  fog"  (for  that  is  the  name  which  is  given  by  the 
shepherds  to  this  species  of  moss)  into  my  pocket,  in 
order  to  press  and  preserve  some  sprigs  of  it,  as  speci- 
mens of  the  highest  vegetation  of  Ben  Nevis,  except  the 
lichens  on  the  rocks  at  the  summit. 

We  soon  came  down  through  the  cloud  again,  so  as 
to  enjoy  extended  and  magnificent  prospects  on  the 


260 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Steepness  of  the  descent.  The  loch  again. 

under  side  of  it.  These  prospects  were  different,  too, 
from  those  we  had  enjoyed  in  ascending,  for  the  guide 
took  us  down  the  mountain  by  what  he  called  a  shorter 
way.  It  was,  indeed,  a  short  way,  being  one  straight 
and  uninterrupted  chute,  from  the  top  to  the  bottom, 
over  four  thousand  feet.  We  came  down  in  groins 
and  angles  of  the  mountain,  and  along  the  brinks  of 
fearful  ravines  cut  by  the  torrents,  sometimes  over 
rocks,  sometimes  over  loose  gravel,  and  sometimes 
over  turf,  but  always  down,  down — straight  down  to- 
ward the  bottom  of  the  glen,  which,  the  longer  we  de- 
scended, seemed  to  be  deeper  and  deeper  below  us. 
This  continued  for  two  hours.  I  longed  for  something 
to  change  the  dreadful  monotony  of  the  fatigue  of  con- 
tinually stepping  down  such  steep  declivities.  A  little 
walk  on  a  level ;  a  little  ascent ;  even  a  turn  in  the  di- 
rection now  and  then,  would  have  been  a  relief.  It 
seemed  as  if  we  should  never  reach  even  the  level  of 
the  little  loch,  which  was  spread  out  like  a  mirror  half 
way  between  us  and  the  valley.  This  loch  we  passed 
now  on  the  other  side,  and  without  going  near  to  it, 
but  keeping  it  in  sight  for  an  hour  as  we  descended 
the  steep  slope  of  the  mountain  beyond  its  southern 
edge.  At  last,  however,  we  got  into  its  plane,  and  could 
almost  take  sight  along  the  surface  of  the  water,  so  lit- 
tle did  the  intervening  land  rise  above  its  level. 

All  this  time  the  fatigue  was  increased  by  the  great 
caution  necessary  to  effect  the  descent  in  safety.  The 
guide  told  us  of  a  man  who  slipped  among  the  stones 
and  fell.  He  sprained  his  ankle,  and  "  I  had  to  leave 
him  on  the  rocks,  and  gang  below  mysel  to  bring  up 
four  of  the  shepherds  to  carry  him  doon." 

"  And  one  of  the  shepherds,  too,  was  killed  here  not 


BEN  NEVIS. 


261 


Tumbling  into  the  bum.       Glen  Nevis.       Crossing  the  stream.      No  Inglis. 

lang  syne."  "  How?"  we  asked.  "  Oh,  he  joost  tum- 
bled over  into  the  burrn."  A  burn  is  a  brook.  In  this 
case  it  was  a  foaming  torrent,  dashing  down  the  mount- 
ain at  the  bottom  of  a  ravine,  which  it  had  apparently 
furrowed  out  itself,  fifty  feet  deep,  with  sides  so  nearly 
perpendicular  that  there  could  have  been  but  one  fall 
for  the  poor  shepherd  from  the  top  to  the  bottom.  We 
clambered  down  the  rocks  along  the  brink  of  this  fear- 
ful gorge  all  the  more  carefully  for  hearing  the  story, 
and  wished  ourselves  safely  down  in  the  lap  of  the 
lovely  glen,  which  lay  spread  out  before  us  far  below, 
an  enchanting  picture  of  peace,  and  shelter,  and  safety. 

We  reached,  at  length,  the  glen,  and  sat  down  to 
rest  under  the  trees  on  the  banks  of  the  river.  It  was 
two  miles  now  to  the  inn ;  for,  by  descending  so  di- 
rectly, we  had  come  down  to  the  level  ground  at  a  con- 
siderable distance  further  from  home  than  the  place 
where  we  had  commenced  our  ascent.  The  guide  car- 
ried me  over  the  river,  which  was  about  two  feet  deep 
and  a  hundred  feet  wide,  on  his  back,  staggering  along 
over  the  pebble-stones  on  the  bottom,  and  tumbling  me, 
at  the  end  of  the  ford,  against  a  green  bank,  up  which 
I  found  it  rather  hard  work  to  scramble.  We  walked 
along  the  smooth  and  beautiful  road  by  the  river  side, 
between  rows  of  ancient  trees  planted  by  the  former 
lairds  of  Glen  Nevis.  We  passed  the  laird's  house, 
and  plenty  of  stone  cottages,  and  Gaelic  peasants  at 
work  in  the  fields.  Two  women  at  one  place  were 
washing  their  chairs  and  tables  in  the  river;  and,  on 
my  speaking  to  them,  smiled  and  shook  their  heads, 
saying,  "  No  Inglis,"  "  No  Inglis." 

The  guide  pointed  out  to  us  a  green  knoll  on  the 
mountain,  which  he  said  was  "  the  vitrified  fort an 


202 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Vib-ified  fort.  The  laird  and  the  kitten. 

old  fort,  which  was  "  burned  up  by  a  sort  of  volcanious 
fire  from  the  sky,  which  turned  the  stone  into  cinders 
like,  and  some  of  them  would  float  on  the  wather." 
He  also  showed  us  a  large  boulder  of  granite  by  the 
side  of  the  road,  and  told  us  a  story,  which,  as  a  sort 
of  specimen  of  the  Highland  legends  with  which  these 
valleys  are  filled,  it  may  be  worth  while  to  repeat  in 
concluding  this  narrative  of  the  ascent  of  Ben  Nevis. 
He  said  he  supposed  we  should  be  surprised  to  learn 
that  the  laird  had  refused  five  pounds  for  that  stone. 
"  What  did  they  want  it  for  ?"  we  asked.  "  Oh,  to  split 
up  for  building  ;  but  the  laird,"  said  he,  "  would  not  sell 
it  for  five  hundred  pounds.  The  reason  was,  the  former 
laird  lost  his  life  in  connection  with  that  stone.  The 
w^ay  w^as  this.  He  was  out  fox-hunting,  and,  when  he 
was  coming  home,  he  saw  a  wild-cat  on  that  stone. 
He  fired  at  her,  but  the  shot  produced  no  effect.  Then 
he  concluded  it  was  a  witch.  So  he  took  a  sixpence* 
out  of  his  pocket  and  put  it  into  his  gun,  and  prepared 
to  fire  again.  Then  the  cat  spoke  to  him,  and  asked 
him  not  to  shoot  her ;  but  he  said  that  he  should.  Then 
she  said, '  If  you  do,  go  home  and  tell  the  kittens  that  you 
have  killed  their  mother.'  He  fired  and  killed  her,  and 
then  came  home  and  began  telling  the  story  about  the 
house,  and  repeating  what  the  cat  had  said,  when  one 
of  the  kittens  of  the  house  sprang  up  and  caught  him 
by  the  throat,  and  before  they  could  take  her  off,  his 
throat  w^as  cut  so  that  he  died." 

The  guide  told  the  story  with  the  most  serious  coun- 
tenance from  beginning  to  end. 


*  Witches  can  be  shot  only  with  a  silver  ballet 


THE  CALEDONIAN  CANAL. 


263 


Great  Glen  of  Scotland.  Its  cliai'acter.  Fissures  in  ice. 


LETTER  XIV. 

THE  CALEDONIAN  CANAL. 

August  27. 

It  would  seem  as  if  in  primeval  ages,  when  our  pres- 
ent continents  were  formed,  some  cause  had  operated 
to  open  a  vast  fissure  diagonally  through  the  heart  of 
Scotland,  from  northeast  to  southwest,  a  fissure  extend- 
ing, from  sea  to  sea,  and  cutting  off  about  one  third  of 
the  island  from  the  rest.  If  we  suppose  such  a  fissure 
a  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  from  one  to  three  miles 
wide,  and  then  imagine  that  the  rocks  from  the  sides 
fall  off  and  fill  up  the  chasm  below  unequally,  leaving 
long  lakes  of  water  in  some  parts,  and  forming  land  in 
others,  we  shall  have  a  valley  precisely  similar  in  char- 
acter to  the  Great  Glen  of  Scotland,  through  which 
modern  engineers  have  constructed  the  Caledonian 
Canal. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  there  is  any  reason  to  sup- 
pose that  this  remarkable  valley  was  originally  a  fis- 
sure, although  it  is  not  at  all  improbable,  according  to 
the  views  of  the  geologists,  that  many  glens  and  valleys, 
and  beds  of  mountain  streams,  and  of  long,  narrow 
lakes,  were  formed  in  this  way.  Nor  is  it  necessary 
to  suppose  any  violent  convulsion  of  nature  to  produce 
such  fissures.  Great  cracks  form  in  very  thick  ice  on 
rivers  and  ponds,  by  a  very  slow  and  insensible  shrink- 
ing of  the  ice  on  each  side.  When  the  ice  first  forms 
at  the  surface  of  the  water,  it  is  at  a  temperature  ot 
32°,  and  it  is  of  the  right  density  to  extend  from  shore 
to  shore.  As  it  increases  in  thickness  while  the  winter 
advances  and  the  cold  becomes  more  intense,  the  upper 


264 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Crevices  in  glaciers,  etc.  How  formed. 

part  shrinks  in  consequence  of  the  contraction,  and 
opens  crevices,  which  grow  narrower  and  narrower 
below,  and  never  extend  through  to  the  water.  These 
fissures  sometimes  commence  by  loud  cracking  sounds, 
which  are  heard  ringing  over  the  surface  in  a  very 
•.old  night  when  the  ice  gets  to  be  two  or  three  inches 
:hick  ;  but  the  subsequent  widening  of  the  fissures  is  a 
very  slow  and  gradual  process ;  so  that  boys  skating 
about  one  of  them  all  day  would  not  perceive  any 
change,  although  it  might  be  at  a  time  when  the  open- 
ing was  undergoing  its  most  rapid  enlargement.  The  \ 
crevices  in  the  glaciers  in  Switzerland  are  formed 
also  in  a  very  gradual  and  imperceptible  manner ;  and 
cracks  open  in  some  kinds  of  soil,  when  it  is  baking  in 
the  sun,  in  the  same  way.  Now  there  is  no  strong 
presumption  against  supposing  some  slow  change  in 
the  strata  of  rocks  of  which  the  earth  is  composed, 
which  would  gradually  open  such  fissures.  It  is  even 
thought  possible  by  the  geologists  that  such  changes 
may  be  now  going  on,  without  at  all  disturbing  the  in- 
habitants in  tilling  the  soil  over  the  rocks  which  are 
subject  to  them. 

I  make  this  supposition,  however,  of  a  great  fissure, 
not  as  a  geological  theory,  but  only  as  a  mode  of  im- 
pressing the  mind  of  the  reader  more  distinctly  and 
strongly  with  an  idea  of  the  very  remarkable  charac- 
ter of  the  straight  and  narrow  valley  in  question.  The 
sea  comes  into  it  at  each  end,  under  the  name  of  Mur- 
ray Frith,  on  the  northeastern  side,  and  Loch  Linhee 
on  the  southwestern.  The  lochs  that  fill  the  hollows 
along  its  course  are  of  difierent  lengths  and  of  differ- 
ent elevations,  and  small  streams  run  from  and  through 
them  each  way,  from  the  center  to  the  sea.    The  canal 


THE  CALEDONIAN  CANAL. 


265 


Course  of  the  canal.  The  stage-coach.  Morning. 

runs  along  upon  the  bank  of  these  streams  from  loch  to 
loch  ;  but  along  the  lochs  themselves  the  boats  sail  over 
the  natural  water.  About  two  thirds  of  the  whole  dis- 
tance is  upon  the  lochs,  and  one  third  by  the  artificial 
canal. 

The  canal  is  very  broad,  and  its  sides  are  paved,  so 
that  it  is  navigated  by  steamers.  Unless  the  sides  are 
paved,  the  wash  of  the  waves  produced  by  the  paddle- 
wheels  soon  destroys  the  banks.  There  are  many 
things  which  conspire  to  make  the  passage  by  one  of 
these  steamers  highly  agreeable.  The  variety  afford- 
ed by  the  change  of  scene  in  passing  from  canal  to  loch, 
and  from  loch  to  canal ;  the  wild  and  mountainous  char- 
acter of  the  country ;  the  rude  villages ;  the  ancient 
castles  and  modern  forts  ;  and  the  opportunities  afford- 
ed, while  the  steamer  is  passing  the  locks  of  the  canal, 
to  take  little  excursions  and  walks  on  the  eminences 
around,  keep  the  attention  of  the  traveler  all  the  time 
agreeably  occupied. 

We  were  to  start  at  six  o'clock.  Six  o'clock  is  a 
very  early  hour,  indeed,  at  English  inns,  where  ten,  and 
sometimes  eleven  and  twelve,  are  the  breakfast  hours. 
The  coach  which  was  to  take  us  to  the  landing  on  the 
canal  was  to  start  from  another  inn  a  few  doors  off,  and 
an  English  coach  never  calls  for  passengers.  The  por- 
ter, accordingly,  carried  my  trunk,  and  I  walked  to  the 
vehicle,  which  was  standing  before  the  inn  door.  I 
climbed  up  to  my  seat  upon  the  top.  It  was  a  cool 
and  foggy  morning,  and  we  waited  ten  minutes  in  the 
silent  street  for  some  other  passengers.  At  length  they 
appeared,  and  we  began  our  ride  of  three  or  four  miles 
across  the  valley.  Fort  William  is  upon  the  south  side, 
while  the  canal  comes  out  to  tide  water  on  the  north 

Z 


266 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Ferry-boat  Pier.  MountaiDg  veiled. 

side  of  the  valley.  I  had  remained  at  Fort  William 
for  convenience  of  access  to  Ben  Nevis. 

We  trotted  and  cantered  briskly  along,  with  a  small 
company  of  passengers,  over  a  smooth  graveled  road, 
w^ith  old  gray  cottages  here  and  there  by  the  road- 
side, until  we  arrived  at  the  river.  It  was  a  broad 
and  shallow  stream,  running  with  a  velocity  of  current 
such  as  barely  to  allow  a  ferry-boat  to  be  rowed  across. 
The  coachman  drew  up  opposite  to  a  broad  stone  pier, 
which  sloped  like  a  pavement  down  almost  to  the  wa- 
ter's edge,  and  shouted  for  the  ferry-man.  In  a  mo- 
ment a  large,  flat  boat,  pointed,  however,  at  the  bows, 
being  shaped,  in  fact,  very  much  like  the  bowl  of  a 
shallow  spoon,  began  to  move  from  the  pier  upon  the 
other  side.  The  coachman  and  his  assistants  detached 
the  horses  from  the  coach,  and  took  them  down  the 
pier,  and  also  brought  down  the  baggage.  The  pas- 
sengers assembled  there  too,  and  waited  in  silence  in 
the  calm  morning  air,  watching  the  boat  as  it  advanced 
over  the  glassy  water,  struggling  hard  with  its  oars  to 
keep  up  against  the  current.  The  scene  around  was 
rural  and  beautiful.  The  sun  was  beaming  through 
the  fog,  and  the  outlines  of  dark  mountains  were  dim- 
ly seen  breaking  here  and  there  into  view,  and  appear- 
ing the  more  lofty  and  sublime  on  account  of  the  mists 
and  clouds  below,  by  which  their  connection  with  the 
earth  was  veiled. 

We  crossed  the  water,  harnessed  our  horses  to  a 
sort  of  omnibus  which  was  waiting  for  us  on  the  oth- 
er side,  and  were  soon  trotting  on  again  as  rapidly  as 
before.  At  length  we  reached  the  bank  of  the  canal, 
where  we  found  a  comfortable  steamer  awaiting  our 
arrival.    It  was  of  very  moderate  size,  and  the  whole 


THE  CALEDONIAN  CANAL. 


267 


Solitude.  Little  trafiic.  Locks  and  lochs. 

company  of  passengers  did  not  probably  exceed  ten. 
The  canal  was  very  broad,  and  all  the  embankments, 
locks,  towrpaths,  and  basins  were  finished  in  a  very 
perfect  manner ;  but  an  air  of  solitude  reigned  over 
the  whole.  There  was  a  narrow  strip  of  cultivation 
and  verdure  in  the  bottom  of  the  valley,  through  which 
we  could  see  the  canal  winding  its  way,  following, 
generally,  the  meanderings  of  the  river,  which  flowed 
rapidly  by  its  side.  Beyond,  on  either  hand,  were  the 
long  ranges  of  green  mountains,  with  straggling  huts 
here  and  there  along  the  bases  of  the  declivities. 
There  were,  however,  no  villages,  no  busy  landings, 
no  boats  passing  and  repassing.  The  whole  function 
of  the  canal  seemed  to  be  to  transport  a  dozen  tourists 
along  the  chain  of  lochs. 

We  met,  however,  during  the  day  two  or  three  oth- 
er steamers,  handsomely  built  and  furnished,  and  well 
provided  with  passengers,  and  one  or  two  vessels  for 
the  transportation  of  merchandise.  After  passing  one 
of  these,  which  was  drawn  by  three  men,  we  emerged 
from  the  canal  into  a  loch,  long  and  narrow,  and  bound- 
ed on  each  side  by  the  same  endless  range  of  smooth, 
green  slopes,  furrowed  by  ravines,  and  clothed  with 
heather,  a  thousand  feet  high.  The  fog  of  the  morn- 
ing had  risen,  and  assumed  the  form  of  clouds  ;  and,  as 
we  sailed  along  the  loch,  long  lines  of  these  clouds  lay 
quietly  reposing  half  way  between  the  shores  of  the 
loch  and  the  summit  of  the  mountains. 

The  highest  of  the  lochs  on  this  line  is  Loch  Oich. 
We  occasionally  passed  through  the  great  gates  of  a 
lock,  ascending  continually  until  we  reached  this  sum- 
mit level,  and  then  began  to  descend.  At  the  entrance 
to  Loch  Ness,  which  is  the  longet  loch  of  the  series, 


268 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Beautiful  view.  Fort  Augustus.  Steamers. 

there  are  four  locks  ;  and  it  so  happened,  when  we  ar- 
rived, that  there  were  two  steamers  there  before  us, 
one  of  which  was  to  be  locked  down,  and  the  other  to 
be  locked  up,  before  we  could  take  our  turn.  This" 
was  likely  to  detain  us  for  some  time,  and  the  passen- 
gers, accordingly,  stepped  off  from  the  paddle-box  to  the 
stone  pier  which  here  lined  the  canal,  to  take  a  walk. 
We  found  ourselves  in  a  somewhat  broader  valley  than 
we  had  been  accustomed  to  see  during  the  day,  as 
several  lateral  glens  seemed  to  open  together  here, 
each  one  sending  its  little  river  down  to  enter  at  the 
head  of  the  lake.  On  the  right,  that  is,  on  the  southern 
side  of  the  canal,  at  a  little  distance  from  the  place  of 
our  debarkation,  was  a  beautiful  view  of  the  whole 
broad  and  smooth  slopes  and  embankments  of  a  mod- 
ern fortification,  with  a  quadrangle  of  handsome  stone 
edifices  in  the  center.  It  was  Fort  Augustus.  The 
grounds  on  one  side  sloped  toward  the  lake ;  on  two 
others  they  were  bordered  by  two  rivers  whose  courses 
were  parallel  to  each  other ;  and,  as  all  was  very  per- 
fectly finished  and  kept  in  excellent  order,  the  scene 
which  it  presented  was  beautiful,  and  its  highly  arti- 
ficial look  contrasted  strongly  with  the  rude  and  rugged 
outlines  of  the  mountains  around.  We  walked  along 
the  smooth  gravel-walk  into  the  fort,  and  mounted  to 
one  of  the  bastions.  The  view  was  very  striking  in 
every  direction.  On  the  right  were  the  lofty  mount- 
ains ;  on  the  left  was  the  canal,  and  the  rapid  river  by 
its  side.  One  steamer  was  just  coming  out  of  the  low- 
est lock  into  the  lake,  and  another,  an  iron  one  of  mod- 
erate dimensions,  but  of  elegant  workmanship,  and  filled 
with  a  gay  company  going  to  the  western  coast  to  wel- 
come the  queen,  was  preparing  to  go  into  it.  Beyond 


THE  CALEDONIAN  CANAL. 


269 


Row  of  huts.  The  village.  The  kilt. 

the  canal  a  stone  bridge  led  across  the  river,  and  a 
road  from  it  was  seen  winding  up  an  ascent  between 
two  rows  of  ancient  cottages,  part  of  them  roofless  and 
in  ruins,  and  the  rest  covered  with  turf,  on  which  the 
weeds  and  grass  grew  at  least  as  luxuriantly  as  they, 
did  in  the  rocky  ground  around  them. 

I  remained  on  one  of  the  embankments  of  the  forti- 
fication, protected  from  the  sun  by  my  umbrella,  look- 
ing at  the  steamer  which  came  sweeping  round  in  a 
great  circle  into  the  lake.  I  watched  it  on  its  course 
until  it  became  a  mere  cloud  of  smoke,  with  a  black 
point  depending  from  it  at  the  surface  of  the  water. 
It  would  have  continued  in  sight  much  longer,  for  the 
lake  is  so  straight  that  we  are  out  of  sight  of  land,  as 
we  may  say,  in  one  direction,  at  least  in  the  case  of  an 
ordinary  summer  haze  upon  the  water.  When  there 
was  no  longer  any  interest  in  watching  the  steamer's 
motion,  I  crossed  the  canal  and  the  river,  and  followed 
the  road  which  led  to  the  village. 

A  boy  in  the  kilt  followed  me,  saying,  "  Please,  sir, 
where  shall  I  get  a  ha'penny?"  Many  of  the  boys 
were  dressed  in  this  way,  and  I  observed  one  old  man 
who  had  the  Highland  dress,  which  appeared  well 
worn,  as  if  it  was  his  usual  garb.  In  all  other  cases 
this  costume  seemed  to  be  worn  only  for  show,  as  a 
gala  dress.  Many  persons  were  having  it  made  at 
this  time,  in  order  to  present  a  Highland  spectacle  to 
her  majesty.  The  dress,  when  put  on  in  full  in  the  old 
chieftain  style,  has  a  very  imposing  character,  and  it 
must  have  been  very  well  adapted  to  its  purposes  at 
the  time  when  it  was  originally  worn.  It  is  very  warm 
about  the  body,  though  the  knees  are  exposed.  In  the 
full  dress  there  are  shoes  and  stockings,  or,  rather,  ar- 

Z2 


270 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  plaid.  Sporran.  Dirk  and  knives.  Gun  and  pistols. 

tides  of  a  peculiar  make,  corresponding  to  shoes  and 
stockings.  The  plaid,  which  was  thrown  over  the 
shoulders,  could  be  used  as  a  cloak,  or  a  sash,  or  a 
blanket  at  night ;  and  it  could  be  made  to  afford  differ^ 
ent  degrees  of  warmth  by  the  different  modes  of  put- 
ting it  on.  Instead  of  a  pocket,  the  Highlander  had  a 
sort  of  purse,  called  a  sporran,  which  was  hung  to  the 
kilt  in  front.  It  was  covered  with  a  goat-skin,  with 
the  hair  on,  either  white  or  black,  with  tassels  of  the 
opposite  color.  There  was  a  dirk,  made  with  a  three- 
fold division  of  the  sheath,  two  of  the  partitions  being 
occupied  by  the  knife  and  fork,  the  handles  rising  one 
above  another,  with  that  of  the  dirk  at  the  top.  This 
knife  was  for  eating.  There  was  another  knife  for 
cutting,  contained  in  a  sheath,  which  was  attached  to 
the  stocking  on  one  side ;  a  singular  place,  it  would 
seem,  for  wearing  such  an  instrument,  but,  after  all, 
not  an  inconvenient  one.  The  ancient  Highlander  had 
also  two  pistols,  and  his  gun.  The  whole  makes  a 
heavy  burden,  it  must  be  admitted ;  but  then  we  must 
remember  that  he  had  to  carry  his  inn  about  with  him, 
instead  of  finding  one,  as  we  do,  under  a  good  slated 
roof,  at  every  stage.  These  accouterments  constitu- 
ted all  that  was  necessary  to  make  him  independent  of 
all  mankind  in  the  wild  fastnesses  of  the  mountains. 
With  his  gun  he  could  kill  his  game.  His  sporran 
supplied  him  with  the  means  of  making  a  fire  to  cook 
it.  His  knife  and  fork  were  ready  in  the  sheath  of 
his  dirk ;  and  at  night  there  were  projecting  rocks 
enough  for  a  roof,  soft  heather  for  a  bed,  and  his  plaid 
for  a  blanket.  His  dress,  and  the  burdens  which  he 
had  to  bear,  seem  to  have  been  studiously  arranged 
with  a  view  to  facilitate  climbing.    The  lower  limbs 


THE  CALEDONIAN  CANAL. 


271 


Conveniences  of  the  Highland  dress.  Great  changes. 

were  free.  The  cloak  could  be  turned  into  a  sash  at 
any  moment,  so  as  to  liberate  the  arms.  And,  on  the 
whole,  it  would  probably  be  difficult  to  contrive  any 
mode  by  which  a  man  could  carry  so  easily  so  many 
essentials  for  the  support  of  life  in  wild  passes,  and  in 
a  manner  so  little  encumbering,  in  ascending  and  de 
scending  the  declivities  of  the  mountains. 

The  kind  of  life,  however,  in  which  this  dress  orig- 
inated, and  the  dress  itself,  have  passed  away  togeth 
er.  •  The  Highland  chieftains  are  all  scattered  and 
gone.  Lowland  gentlemen  have  come  into  possession 
of  the  lands,  and  have  stocked  the  hill-sides  with  sheep, 
retaining  enough  of  the  descendants  of  the  wild  follow- 
ers of  the  ancient  chieftains  to  watch  the  flocks,  and 
sending  off  the  rest  to  work  in  southern  manufactories, 
or  to  begin  life  anew  in  Canada.  Every  glen  has  a 
good  coach-road  through  it ;  every  hamlet  has  an  inn  ; 
and  when  the  hamlet  has  gone  to  decay,  the  inn  re- 
mains thriving  and  prosperous  among  the  ruins.  Ev- 
ery wild  and  sequestered  ravine  is  within  reach  of  a 
hunting-lodge,  from  which  the  moors  around  are  filled 
with  English  sportsmen,  who  shoot  grouse  to  send  in 
boxes  to  their  southern  friends.  Instead  of  having  to 
carry  their  means  of  protection  and  subsistence  on 
their  backs,  they  are  followed  by  servants  and  ponies 
that  relieve  them  of  every  burden.  Thus  every  thing 
is  changed.  The  summits  of  the  mountains  are  scaled 
in  safety  by  ladies  from  every  quarter  of  the  globe, 
whose  genteel  attendants  carry  spy-glasses,  and  sand- 
wiches and  wine  from  the  inn,  instead  of  dirks  and 
guns. 

And  yet  a  serious  effort  is  making  to  restore  the  old 
costume.    Societies  are  formed  and  prizes  are  offered, 


272 


SUMMER   IN  SCOTLAND. 


Fniitless  efforts.  The  physician  in  a  Highland  garb.  A  bum. 

and  annual  exhibitions  held  to  encourage  a  counter- 
revolution in  the  national  dress.  These  efforts  must, 
of  course,  be  fruitless.  They  are  struggles  against  a 
current  which  no  human  power  can  withstand.  In  fact, 
there  is  an  incongruity  between  the  dress  and  the  pres- 
ent pursuits  and  characters  of  the  wearers,  when  the 
dress  is  assumed,  which  is  irreconcilable.  In  one  vil- 
lage, on  a  Sunday  morning,  as  I  was  standing  at  the 
door  of  the  inn,  a  splendidly-dressed  Highland  chief- 
tain, as  I  might  have  imagined,  came  down  the  street. 
I  fell  into  conversation  with  him.  He  turned  out  to 
be  a  young  village  physician,  with  all  the  mental  cul- 
tivation and  modern  ideas  characteristic  of  his  profes- 
sion. Think  of  the  refinement,  the  calmness,  the  benev- 
olence of  the  physician,  clothed  in  the  garb  of  a  half- 
savage  warrior;  the  gentle  visiter  of  sick  rooms,  equip- 
ped for  midnight  maraudings  on  the  mountains,  and  for 
desperate  encounters  with  foes  !  It  is  true  that  in  this 
case,  as  in  most  others,  the  dress  was  probably  only 
intended  as  a  sort  of  holiday  costume  in  honor  of  the 
queen,  yet  the  incongruity  was  none  the  less  conspic- 
uous on  that  account. 

With  such  thoughts  as  these,  suggested  by  the  sight 
of  the  old  man  above  referred  to,  who  seemed  to  be 
wearing  in  earnest  a  simple  form  of  the  Highland  dress, 
I  advanced  up  the  street,  or,  rather,  road  of  the  village. 
A  little  path  turned  off  between  two  roofless  and  ruined 
cottages.  I  followed  it,  and  it  led  me  behind  the  houses 
where  a  little  "  burn"  was  meandering  along  over  the 
stones.  At  a  little  distance  before  me  an  old  woman 
was  washing  clothes  by  the  side  of  an  ancient  wall. 
Her  kettle  was  poised  upon  three  stones,  and  was  boil- 
ing by  the  heat  of  a  fire  of  peat.    Her  children  were 


THE  CALEDONIAN  CANAL. 


273 


View  from  the  rocks.  Huts.  A  bow. 

playing  about  the  brook,  to  all  appearance  healthy  and 
happy.  I  tried  to  talk  with  them,  but  they  could  not 
speak  English  ;  the  mother  could  speak  very  well,  and 
was  evidently  much  pleased  to  have  a  little  friendly 
chat  with  a  stranger. 

I  went  on  in  my  path,  still  diverging  from  the  village, 
a  few  rods  further,  to  the  top  of  a  small,  rocky  emi- 
nence, raised  a  little  above  the  surrounding  land.  Here 
I  had  a  fine  view  of  all  the  objects  which  I  had  seen 
before,  though  now  under  different  aspects  and  rela- 
tions. There  was  the  lake,  and  the  fortification,  with 
the  smooth  slopes  about  it.  There  was  the  bridge,  and 
the  canal  locks,  w^ith  the  iron  steamer  which  we  were 
waiting  for,  half  up  through,  our  own  remaining  quietly 
at  the  top  in  her  original  position.  On  the  other  side 
of  the  little  hill  was  a  wild  tract  of  pasture  land,  ex- 
tending back  to  the  foot  of  the  mountains.  A  few  huts 
were  scattered  about  upon  it  irregularly,  with  foot- 
paths leading  from  one  to  the  other  through  the  grass, 
but  no  road.  Upon  a  flat  place  among  the  rocks  near 
me  was  a  child  at  play,  building  a  house  of  stones;  he 
had  on  a  little  kilt,  reaching  half  down  to  his  knees, 
and  nothing  below.  He  got  up  when  I  came  near,  and 
began  to  move  away.  I  spoke  to  him,  asking  him  some 
question,  but  he  made  no  reply.  His  home  was  in  one  of 
the  huts  quite  near,  and  his  mother  was  standing  in  the 
door  of  it.  She  called  out  to  him  and  said  something 
in  Gaelic,  and  then  the  boy,  as  if  in  obedience  to  some 
directions  she  had  given  him,  took  hold  of  the  hair 
which  hung  down  upon  his  forehead,  for  want  of  a  hat 
to  touch,  and  made  me  a  bow.  On  receiving  further  di- 
rections from  his  mother,  he  advanced  timidly  to  me,  and 
began  to  repeat  what  I  supposed  to  be  a  Gaelic  hymn. 


274 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


A  talk  with  the  mother.  The  half  penny. 

After  a  little  time  his  mother  came  and  joined  usj 
and,  seating  herself  upon  a  stone  opposite  to  me,  with 
the  boy,  and  an  older  girl,  who  also  joined  us,  leaning 
upon  her  knee,  we  talked  half  an  hour  about  the  cus- 
toms and  modes  of  life  of  her  village.  She  was  young, 
and  very  intelligent ;  and,  so  far  as  appeared,  content- 
ed and  happy.  And  yet  her  dwelling  was  a  mere  hut, 
with  one  door  and  one  window,  or,  rather,  one  small 
opening  in  the  wall  instead  of  a  window.  She  said 
that  there  were  formerly  a  great  many  more  inhabit- 
ants in  the  village  than  now.  They  all  used  to  have 
some  land,  but  "since  the  sheep  came,"  that  was 
changed,  and  a  great  many  had  been  obliged  to  go 
away,  some  "  to  the  south,"  and  some  to  America. 
Her  gudeman  had  no  land,  she  said.  "  Is  he  a  shep- 
herd, then?"  "Na,  sir,  he's  no  a  shepherd."  "How 
do  you  get  a  living,  then  ?"  "  Oh,  we  get  along  as 
weel  as  we  can  ;  when  we  get  wark  we  eat,  and  when 
we  canna  get  wark  we  want,  that's  it,  all." 

I  had  to  keep  watch  upon  our  steamer ;  and  when, 
at  length,  I  found  her  getting  well  along  down  the  locks, 
the  iron  one  having  completed  the  ascent,  and  sailed 
away,  I  rose  to  go.  I  first,  however,  beckoned  the  child 
to  me,  and  gave  him  a  half  penny.  He  began  to  stag- 
ger along  toward  his  mother,  she  looking  at  him  with 
a  smile,  and  saying  to  me,  "  You  will  see,  now,  that  I 
shall  get  that.  He  always  brings  his  ha'  pence  to  me." 
The  child  put  the  half  penny  into  his  mother's  hands, 
and  they  all  went  away  together,  her  heart  being  full, 
I  have  no  doubt,  of  maternal  pride  and  pleasure. 

Our  httle  company  of  passengers  was  soon  collected 
again ;  the  steamer  glided  out  of  the  lowest  lock  and 
entered  upon  the  waters  of  the  lake.    It  was  only  one 


THE  CALEDONIAN  CANAL. 


275 


Setting  sail  again.        Expensive  pleasure  grounds.        End  of  the  mountains. 

more  narrow  and  long  expanse,  like  a  broad  river,  with 
a  range  of  mountains  on  either  bank.  The  soft  and 
rich  verdure  of  the  heather,  however,  here  disappear- 
ed, and  the  slopes  began  to  look  sterile  and  forbidding, 
ledges  of  rocks  breaking  out  every  where  among  thin 
patches  of  verdure.  Every  few  miles,  however,  some 
broad  lateral  glen  opened  toward  the  lake,  showing  in 
its  bosom  signs  of  fertility  and  cultivation.  Some  of 
these  valleys  had  broad  slopes  of  land  waving  with 
grain,  and  extensive  plantations,  and  gentlemen's  resi- 
dences, or  hunting  lodges,  peeping  out  here  and  there 
among  the  trees.  At  one  such  place  we  passed  a  hand- 
some house,  with  a  smooth  green  lawn  sloping  down 
to  the  loch.  Two  gentlemen  were  reclining  upon  the 
grass  near  the  shore,  observing  the  steamer  as  it  glided 
by.  I  was  seated  on  the  bridge  of  the  steamer,  talking 
with  the  captain.  He  told  me  what  lord  owned  that 
estate.  "  He  has  recently  bought  it  for  thirty-five  thou- 
sand pounds.  That  is  he,  with  the  white  hat,  lying  upon 
the  grass."  It  was  a  beautiful  place,  but  in  the  midst 
of  a  desolate  and  lonely  region.  I  asked  what  portion 
of  the  year  the  owner  spent  here.  "  Oh  !  only  two  or 
three  weeks,"  replied  the  captain,  "  in  the  shooting  sea- 
son. He  only  bought  it  for  his  amusement,  and  keeps 
it  just  for  the  game.  He  has  very  large  estates  in  En- 
gland." Thirty-five  thousand  pounds  is  about  one 
hundred  and  seventy  thousand  dollars. 

At  the  end  of  Loch  Ness  we  came  to  the  end  of  the 
mountains.  We  passed  into  a  canal  again,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  emerged  suddenly  to  a  broad  region  of 
level  or  gently-undulating  land,  presenting  on  all  sides 
the  richest  possible  pictures  of  fertility  and  beauty. 
The  reapers  were  cutting  the  corn,  great  companies 


276 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Reaping.  Hay-stacks.  Inverness.  Culloden  Moor. 

of  them  together.  In  one  field  there  was  a  line  of 
more  than  fifty,  chiefly  women,  who  advanced  togeth- 
er, carrying  the  whole  field  before  them.  In  other 
cases  they  were  rearing  enormous  stacks,  either  of 
oats  or  hay,  as  large  as  a  New  England  barn,  and  as 
true  and  regular  in  form.  On  one  of  these,  which  they 
were  raising,  there  were  twenty  persons  stationed  to 
arrange  and  tread  down  the  forkings  thrown  up  from 
below.  When  finished,  these  stacks  have  ropes  made 
of  straw  passing  over  them  at  regular  distances,  to 
keep  the  upper  portions  from  being  blown  away  by 
the  wind.  The  rope  comes  half  way  down  the  side, 
and  then  it  seems  to  pass  through  the  stack  and  up 
again,  coming  over  the  top  a  second  time,  at  the  dis- 
tance of  about  a  foot  from  where  it  passed  before. 
Thus  the  top  is  literally  sewed  on  with  a  rope  of 
straw,  though  with  what  kind  of  needle  the  stitches 
were  made  I  had  no  opportunity  of  observing. 

Inverness  is  situated  in  the  midst  of  this  scene  of  ru- 
ral beauty.  Its  environs  in  every  direction  display 
broad  and  fertile  fields,  with  villas,  gardens,  and  plan- 
tations every  where.  It  is  itself  a  quiet  town,  being 
beyond  the  ordinary  route  of  the  tourists.  The  win- 
dows of  the  shops,  however,  display  chiefly  curiosities 
characteristic  of  Scotland :  quaichs,  sporrans,  tartans 
of  every  kind,  cairngorms  set  in  silver  or  gold  ;  and  at 
the  booksellers,  guide-books,  Scottish  views,  and  pic- 
tures of  Highlanders  in  full  costume.  To  the  east  of 
the  town,  on  the  shores  of  the  Murray  Frith,  is  a  broad 
plain  or  moor,  elevated  above  the  water,  and  famous 
as  Culloden  Moor,  the  scene  of  the  last  great  battle,  by 
which  the  old  house  of  Stuart  was  put  down,  and  the 
present  dynasty  confirmed  in  its  possession  of  the  Brit- 


THE   CALEDONIAN  CANAL. 


277 


Battle  of  Culloden.  Relics. 

ish  throne.  This  battle  of  Culloden  destroyed,  too, 
the  military  and  political  power  of  the  Highland  chief- 
tains, as  they  had  taken  sides  with  the  Stuart  prince. 
Culloden  is,  consequently,  much  visited  as  a  place  of 
historic  interest,  and  many  old  relics  are  shown  in  the 
town  which  are  said  to  have  been  dug  up  upon  the  field. 
Beyond  it,  the  long  valley  whose  course  we  have  fol- 
lowed now  from  Oban  to  Culloden,  a  hundred  miles, 
deepens  and  disappears  under  the  waters  of  the  Ger- 
maa  Ocean. 

A  A 


278 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


PertlL  Rural  scenery.  The  two  Lochs  Leven. 


LETTER  XV. 

LOCH  LEVEN, 

September  5. 

Perth  is  not  far  from  fifty  miles  north  of  Edinburgh. 
Between  the  two  cities  there  extends  a  very  fertile  coun- 
try, presenting  on  every  hand  the  richest  imaginable 
pictures  of  rural  wealth  and  prosperity.  The  traveler 
who  takes  his  seat  upon  the  top  of  the  mail-coach,  is 
drawn  by  galloping  horses  over  a  road  as  hard  and 
smooth  and  neatly  kept  as  a  floor.  Fields  of  great  ex- 
tent, and  of  every  shade  of  color,  from  the  deepest  green 
to  a  bright,  autumnal  yellow,  are  spread  around  him. 
There  are  plantations  of  trees,  and  parks,  and  lawns, 
to  give  variety  to  the  scene ;  and  villages,  with  neat 
inns,  and  rows  of  comfortable  cottages,  very  different 
from  the  rude  huts  of  the  Highlands.  The  land  gen- 
erally undulates  in  broad  swells,  with  just  enough  of 
inequality  to  display  the  surface  to  advantage  ;  and 
then,  here  and  there,  dark,  isolated  mountains  rise  up 
out  of  this  sea  of  verdure,  their  profiles  assuming  new 
forms  as  you  pass  along  continually  to  new  points  of 
view,  and  their  dark  and  gloomy  masses,  covered  with 
forests  or  with  heather,  contrasting  strongly  with  the 
broad  expanse  of  life  and  beauty  upon  which  they  re- 
pose. 

In  the  m.idst  of  this  scene,  and  surrounded  by  these 
views,  is  a  broad  loch,  fourteen  or  fifteen  miles  in  cir- 
cumference, in  the  middle  of  which  is  the  island  on 
which  Queen  Mary  was  imprisoned :  it  is  Loch  Lev- 
en.   There  is  another  Loch  Leven  in  the  northwest- 


LOCH  LEVEN. 


•279 


Queen  Mary.  Her  imprisonment.  Douglas.  Mary's  escape. 

ern  part  of  Scotland,  which  is  also  celebrated  for  its 
beautiful  scenery ;  but  this  is  the  Loch  Leven  of  his- 
tory. 

Queen  Mary  was  imprisoned  in  a  castle  upon  an 
island  in  the  center  of  this  loch  by  a  confederacy  of 
her  own  nobles,  who  were  made  hostile  to  her  by  her 
marriage  with  Bothwell,  whom  they  suspected  to  have 
been  the  murderer  of  her  former  husband.  The  castle 
was  very  small,  and  she  was  imprisoned  in  a  httle  tow- 
er overhanging  the  water.  The  island,  in  fact,  was  it- 
self very  small,  being  nearly  covered  by  the  buildings 
of  the  castle.  In  this  little  tower,  containing  only  one 
very  narrow  room  above  another,  Mary  lived  in  wretch- 
ed solitude  for  several  months.  Her  enemies  brought 
her  papers  of  abdication,  which  they  forced  her  to  sign. 
She  submitted,  though  with  remonstrances  and  tears, 
and  declared  that  such  an  extorted  relinquishment  of 
her  rights  was  of  no  validity,  and  that  she  would  never 
consider  herself  bound  by  it  at  all. 

There  was  a  young  man  named  George  Douglas, 
the  brother  of  the  keeper  of  the  castle,  who  became  so 
much  interested  in  the  beautiful  and  unhappy  prisoner, 
that  he  formed  a  plan  for  her  escape.  He  contrived  to 
get  the  keys  of  the  castle  after  it  was  locked  for  the 
night,  and,  as  it  is  said,  threw  them  into  the  loch  to  pre- 
vent the  guards  from  coming  out  in  pursuit  of  Mary. 
He  then  went  in  a  boat  to  the  window  of  the  tower 
where  Mary  was  confined,  and  assisted  her  to  descend 
to  it  down  the  wall.  He  conveyed  her  to  the  shore, 
and  thence  by  a  rapid  ride  across  the  country  to  her 
friends.  She  soon  gathered  an  army;  but  the  forces 
of  her  enemies  were  too  strong  for  her,  and  she  fled, 
at  length,  to  England,  where  Queen  Elizabeth  made 


280 


SUMMER   IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  island  and  castQe.  Subsidence  of  the  waters.  The  village. 

her  a  captive,  and  kept  her  imprisoned  for  the  rest  of 
her  days. 

The  island  on  which  Mary  was  confined  in  Loch 
Leven  was,  as  has  been  ah'eady  remarked,  very  small. 
The  castle  occupied  the  whole  breadth  of  it  at  the 
southern  end.  Toward  the  north  the  land  extended  a 
little  way,  affording  space  for  a  small  garden.  The 
water  of  the  lake  washed  the  edges  of  the  garden,  and 
came  up  to  the  walls  of  the  castle  on  the  other  three 
sides.  The  island,  however,  is  now  larger ;  for  the 
outlet  of  the  lake  was  deepened  some  years  ago,  and 
the  level  of  the  water  reduced  four  or  five  feet,  by 
which  means  large  tracts  of  land,  formerly  submerged, 
are  now  bare.  A  few  acres  were  by  this  operation 
added  to  the  island. 

The  coach  set  me  down  at  the  inn.  It  was  a  very 
somber-looking  day.  Dark  and  heavy  clouds  were 
moving  slowly  over  the  sky.  These  clouds  had  sent 
down,  from  time  to  time,  a  gentle  mist  upon  us  on  the 
coach,  and  the  horizon  all  around  was  piled  up  and  ob- 
scured with  dense  masses  of  rainy-looking  vapor,  which 
presented  a  very  threatening  aspect.  Still,  however, 
I  thought  I  would  walk  down  to  the  shores  of  the  loch, 
and  let  the  question  of  going  out  upon  it  be  decided  ac- 
cording to  appearances  which  should  be  presented  there. 

The  village  is  upon  the  western  side  of  the  loch,  and 
the  inn  at  which  I  was  left  was  at  the  upper,  or  north- 
ern, end  of  the  village.  I  sallied  forth  as  soon  as  my 
"  portmanteau,"  as  they  call  it,  was  taken  care  of,  um- 
brella in  hand,  to  see  what  1  could  find.  I  walked 
along  down  the  village  street,  looking  out  for  a  lane,  or 
road,  leading  oflf  to  the  left,  which  was  the  direction  in 
which  the  loch  lay.    After  walking  through  the  whole 


LOCH  LEVEN. 


2Sl 


A  walk.  The  tartan  manufactory.  The  brook. 

length  of  the  street,  I  came  to  such  a  lane,  and  turned 
into  it.  It  was  evident  that  there  was  a  considerable 
space  of  low,  level  land  between  the  village  and  the 
water,  which  was  occupied  by  a  great  variety  of  small 
manufactory-like  buildings,  arranged  very  irregularly, 
and  accessible  only  through  sundry  narrow  and  crook- 
ed lanes  and  passages.  The  fabric  manufactured  here 
was  tartan  plaids,  the  patterns  being  of  every  variety 
of  gaudy  coloring.  Women  were  going  about  from 
shop  to  shop  carrying  baskets  of  yarn,  red,  and  green, 
and  blue,  and  all  of  the  most  brilliant  dyes.  Long 
webs  of  the  fabric  were  stretched  on  frames,  here  and 
there,  to  dry.  There  were  open  windows  in  the  low 
buildings,  through  which  the  weavers  were  to  be  seen 
at  their  work ;  and  a  rapid  stream,  confined  between 
two  low  stone  walls,  that  formed  a  canal-like  passage 
for  it,  and  which  it  filled  to  the  brim,  was  pouring  along 
its  waters,  which  were  tinged  of  a  deep  bluish-green 
color  by  waste  and  rejected  dyes.  Poor  burn  !  It 
commenced  its  career,  doubtless,  in  some  wild  mount- 
ain glen,  pure  and  free  as  the  mountain  atmosphere 
which  gave  it  birth.  It  was  mournful  to  see  it,  at  the 
close  of  its  career,  imprisoned,  constrained,  and  con- 
taminated, forced  to  do  duty  as  a  manufacturing  slave. 
It  seemed  to  be  an  emblem  of  the  change  which  the 
living  occupants  of  the  Highland  glens  have  had  to 
bear  ;  forced  by  stern  necessity  to  leave  their  native 
fastnesses  and  their  lives  of  freedom  to  come  into  the 
Lowland  villages,  and  earn  their  bread  by  weaving  the 
tartans  which  once  they  wore.  However,  the  appar- 
ent sadness  of  the  spectacle  was  only  an  illusion.  It 
is  better  for  a  brook  to  be  useful  in  a  town  than  merely 
at  play  among  the  mountains ;  and  in  the  case  of  the 


282 


SUMMER   IN  SCOTLAND. 


Talk  with  an  old  woman.  Boy  guides. 

man,  it  has  been,  after  all,  only  a  change  from  the  des- 
titution and  terror  of  his  wild  life  among  the  mount- 
ains, to  the  comforts  and  security  of  industry  and  peace 
in  the  town. 

I  asked  an  old  woman,  who  was  carrying  home  some 
vegetables  which  she  had  just  been  purchasing  at  the 
market,  which  was  the  way  to  the  loch,  and  whether  I 
could  get  a  boat  to  go  out  and  see  the  castle.  She 
answered  both  my  questions  with  great  readiness,  but 
with  so  broad  an  accent,  such  a  rolling  of  the  r's,  such 
new  combinations  of  words,  and,  withal,  with  such 
volubility,  that  I  could  comprehend  but  a  small  part 
of  her  communication.  As  to  the  way  to  the  loch, 
"  Ye  maun  gang,"  said  she,  "  strrite  alang  this  gate,  an' 
ye'll  soon  come  to  the  shore."  "  And  can  I  get  a  boat 
there  ?"  "  Oh,  ay,"  said  she  ;  "  there'll  aye  be  a  boat 
there,  but  ye  maun  gang  to  Mr.  Mishell,  who  has  the 
fishing  o'  the  loch,  and  he'll  send  his  men  to  row  ye 
o'er  intil  the  castle." 

She  finally,  however,  called  a  little  boy,  who,  she 
said,  would  go  for  me  to  the  owner  of  the  boat,  if  I 
wished.  The  boy  was  about  five  or  six  years  of  age, 
and  he  had  a  companion  perhaps  four.  Both  looked 
abashed  and  awe-struck  in  the  presence  of  the  stranger. 

I  took  the  boys  into  my  employ  as  guides,  but  de- 
cided first  to  go  on  down  to  the  shores  of  the  loch  and 
see  what  the  appearances  were  there,  before  sending 
for  the  boatmen.  We  followed  a  path  which  led  along 
the  side  of  the  blue  brook,  which  was  here  pouring  its 
way  along  toward  its  embouchure.  A  great  flock  of 
large  white  birds,  which  I  was  afterward  told  were 
sea-gulls,  were  sailing  about  over  the  mouth  of  the 
brook,  and  wading  in  the  shallow  water  of  the  loch 


LOCH  LEVEN. 


283 


The  dike.  The  landing.  View  of  the  castle. 

around  it.  Some  men  were  at  work  upon  a  stone 
wall,  and  I  asked  the  boys  what  they  were  making. 
"  It  is  joost  a  dike,"  said  the  oldest,  walking  straight 
along,  and  not  lifting  his  eyes  from  the  ground.  "  And 
what  is  it  for  ?"  "  I  dinna  ken,"  said  the  boy,  with  the 
same  attitude  and  air. 

I  saw,  as  we  approached  the  water,  at  the  end  of  a 
path-way  which  led  through  a  low  field,  a  small  pier, 
with  a  boat  near  it.  A  small  wooden  building  was  on 
the  shore,  at  a  few  rods'  distance  from  the  pier.  I  asked 
the  boy  if  that  was  the  landing.  "  Ay,"  said  he,  "  and 
yon's  the  boat-hoose."  I  told  him  then  that  I  would 
go  down  to  the  pier,  and  he  might  go  back  to  the  owner 
of  the  boat  and  ask  him  to  send  me  down  some  boatmen. 

While  the  boys  were  gone  I  stood  upon  the  little 
wooden  pier  and  surveyed  the  scene  around  me.  I 
was  near  the  southwestern  corner  of  the  loch,  and  on 
my  left,  that  is,  along  the  western  side  of  it,  was  ex- 
tended the  long  range  of  village  buildings,  part  of 
which  could  be  seen  from  where  I  stood,  and  part 
were  concealed  by  walls  and  trees,  marking  out  the 
grounds  of  a  villa,  which  occupied  an  elevated  tract 
along  the  shore,  between  the  northern  part  of  the  vil- 
lage and  the  water.  The  whole  southern  shore  of  the 
loch,  where  Mary  landed  after  her  escape,  was  in  view. 
It  was  a  beautiful  slope  of  green  fields,  with  scattered 
trees  here  and  there  among  the  hedges  between  them. 
Before  me,  in  the  middle  of  the  loch,  was  the  island. 
I  could  see  a  square  tower  on  the  northern  side  of  the 
castle,  and  a  smaller  round  tower  on  the  southeastern 
side,  with  high  walls  between  them.  The  island  was 
low,  rising,  apparently,  just  above  the  surface  of  the 
water,  and  all  around  the  castle  a  grove  of  evergreen 


284 


SUMMER   IN  SCOTLAND. 


Messengers.  Unsatisfactory  answers.  Embarkation. 

trees,  perhaps  ten  feet  high,  was  springing  up.  They 
had  been  planted  by  the  proprietor,  on  the  land  left 
bare  by  the  lowering  of  the  lake. 

By  the  time  I  had  well  surveyed  the  scene  around 
me,  my  little  messengers  returned,  but  without  any 
boatmen,  the  boys  telling  me,  in  answer  to  my  inquir- 
ies, "  He  says  ye  maun  gang  yersell." 

I  had  some  doubt  before  whether  the  boat  owner 
would  have  sent  two  men  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  row  a 
boat  a  mile  and  a  half,  in  very  threatening  weather,  on 
the  summons  of  such  messengers  as  I  sent — messengers 
coming,  too,  from  a  perfect  stranger.  However,  I  press- 
ed the  boys  for  the  reason  ;  but  I  could  get  nothing  from 
them  but  "  Ye  maun  gang  yersell."  "  What  do  you 
think  the  reason  is  why  he  won't  send  his  men  ?"  "  I 
dinna  ken."  "  Is  it  because  it  rains  ?"  asked  I.  "  I 
dinna  ken.  He  did  na  speak  aboot  that.  Only  he 
said  ye  maun  gang  yersell." 

I  immediately  began  to  consider  whether  I  should 
not  punish  the  man  for  his  independence  by  contenting 
myself  with  a  distant  view  of  Mary's  prison,  thus  mak- 
ing him  lose  the  dollar  and  a  quarter  which  the  good 
woman,  who  had  directed  me  to  the  shore,  had  told  me 
was  the  established  fee  for  rowing  one  over.  On  re- 
flecting, however,  that  in  this  case  the  punishment 
would  fall  far  more  heavily  upon  myself  than  upon 
him,  and  considering,  also,  that  perhaps  his  caution 
was  not  wholly  unreasonable,  I  directed  the  boys  to 
show  me  the  way  to  his  house.  On  arriving,  I  made 
an  arrangement  at  once  for  two  boatmen,  whom  the 
man  called  from  their  looms  in  adjoining  shops,  and 
we  were  soon  all  seated  in  the  boat  gliding  swiftly 
over  the  water. 


LOCH  LEVEN. 


287 


Story  of  the  keys.      Recession  of  the  water.      The  island.       Small  castles. 

I  asked  one  of  the  boatmen,  a  young  and  handsome- 
looking  Scotchman,  who  acted  as  guide  afterward  in 
showing  me  the  castle,  whether  there  was  not  a  story 
of  the  keys  having  been  found  which  Douglas  is  said 
to  have  thrown  into  the  lake.  He  said  "there  was 
but  a  small  bunch  o'  wee  bits  o'  keys  found,  on  a  ring 
o'  wire  ;  and  they  found  them,  too,  in  a  place  joost 
by  where  the  boatmen  had  always  kept  their  boats 
fastened  wi'  padlocks  and  keys  joost  the  like  o'  them." 
He  thought,  therefore,  "  it  wad  be  more  likely  to  be 
joost  a  boatman's  boonch  o'  keys  that  they  found." 

It  was  a  long  pull  to  the  island.  We  passed  along 
the  margin  of  a  large  tract  of  land,  on  the  western  side, 
which  had  been  laid  bare  by  the  subsidence  of  the  lake. 
This  tract  of  land  extends  from  the  village  shore  out 
toward  the  castle,  leaving  a  much  smaller  breadth  of 
water  between  the  island  and  the  shore  than  there  was 
in  Mary's  time.  We  landed  at  a  rude  stone  pier,  on 
the  western  side  of  the  island,  and  passed  up  through 
the  plantation  of  firs  and  pines  growing  on  the  new 
land  about  the  castle,  until  we  came  to  the  walls. 

We  are  very  apt  to  have  erroneous  ideas  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  old  castles  of  feudal  times,  of  which 
we  read  in  history.  Some  of  them,  indeed,  were  ex- 
tensive ;  but  in  general,  in  visiting  them,  the  observer 
is  very  likely  to  be  surprised  at  the  smallness  of  their 
dimensions.  The  habitable  part  of  this  fortress  seems 
to  have  consisted  merely  of  two  buildings,  each  con- 
taining only  one  room  upon  a  floor,  and  three  or  four 
stories  high.  In  order,  however,  to  form  an  accurate 
conception  of  the  edifice,  imagine  the  following  con- 
structions :  First,  there  is  a  wall,  inclosing  a  square 
space,  perhaps  a  hundred  feet  on  a  side.    The  wall  is 


288 


SUMMER   IN  SCOTLAND. 


Plan  of  the  castle.  WaUs.  Square  tower. 

six  feet  thick,  and  perhaps  ten  feet  high  ;  it  is  flat  upon 
the  top,  with  a  parapet  carried  up  on  the  outer  side,  so 
that  a  person  can  walk  all  around  it,  upon  the  top  of 
the  wall,  within  the  parapet.  Three  of  the  sides  of 
this  wall,  namely,  the  eastern,  western,  and  southern, 
are  washed  by  the  waters  of  the  loch.  On  the  north- 
ern side  is  a  small  garden  plat,  with  the  waters  sur- 
rounding it  also. 

On  the  northern  side  of  this  wall  of  inclosure,  that 
is,  the  side  toward  the  garden,  is  the  entrance.  On 
one  side  of  the  entrance— the  western — and  within  the 
wall,  is  a  square  building,  perhaps  twenty  feet  on  each 
side,  and  four  stories  high.  Of  course,  the  northern 
wall  of  the  inclosure  is  the  northern  wall  of  the  build- 
ing ;  but  there  is  no  entrance,  or  scarcely  any  window, 
except  loop-holes,  on  that  side.  The  only  entrance  to 
this  building,  or  square  tower,  as  it  is  called,  is  from 
within  the  court-yard,  namely,  on  the  eastern  side  ot 
the  tower.  The  entrance  is,  moreover,  not  into  the 
lower  story,  but  into  the  story  above,  by  an  opening 
(it  is  hard  to  say  whether  it  ought  to  be  called  door  or 
window)  fifteen  feet  from  the  ground.  In  ancient  times, 
when  the  castle  was  inhabited,  access  was  obtained  to 
this  port-hole  by  a  ladder,  which  was  raised  or  let  down 
by  means  of  a  chain  which  passed  up  into  the  window 
above.  This  tower  was  for  the  residence  of  the  keep- 
er of  the  castle,  or  prison,  as  it  might,  perhaps,  be  more 
properly  termed. 

Bearing  in  mind,  now,  that  this  square  tower  is  sit- 
uated upon  the  northern  side  of  the  inclosure,  though 
within  it,  and  west  of  the  entrance,  let  the  reader  now 
conceive  of  a  smaller  round  tower  on  the  southeast 
corner  of  the  inclosure,  and  projecting  from  it  over  the 


LOCH  LEVEN. 


289 


Round  tower.  The  court  Ruin  and  decay. 

water,  so  as  to  be,  in  a  great  measure,  without  the  inclo- 
sure,  though  accessible  by  a  door  within.  This  round 
tower  was  for  the  prisoner  of  state,  who  might  at  any- 
time be  sent  to  this  fortress  for  safe-keeping.  It  was 
built  upon  an  arch  over  the  water.  It  was  round  out- 
side, but  hexagonal  within,  and  three  stories  high.  Thus 
there  were  three  small  rooms,  one  above  the  other,  in 
the  round  tower  for  the  prisoner,  and  three  or  four  in 
the  same  relation  to  each  other,  in  the  square  tower,  for 
the  keeper ;  and  this  w^as  the  whole. 

That  is,  this  was  substantially  the  whole.  There 
were  some  subordinate  offices  around  the  sides  of  the 
inclosure,  and,  perhaps,  rude  lodging-places  for  the  ser- 
vants or  soldiers,  though  but  very  few  even  of  these. 
The  ruin  is  substantially  a  square  court-yard,  inclosed 
by  a  wall,  with  a  square  tower  on  the  northern  side 
within,  and  a  round  tower  on  the  southeastern  corner 
without,  each  containing  simply  three  or  four  rooms, 
one  above  the  other. 

We  entered  into  the  court  by  the  opening  on  the 
northern  side  of  the  inclosure.  Within  these  was  a 
melancholy  spectacle  of  ruin  and  decay.  Remains  of 
old  walls  and  small  constructions  were  seen  all  around 
among  the  grass  and  weeds.  The  roofs  of  the  two 
towers  were  gone,  and  the  wind  and  rain  beat  merci- 
lessly in  at  the  loop-holes  and  windows.  The  wall  of 
the  inclosure  was  irregular  and  ragged,  where  it  had 
not  actually  fallen.  Its  sides  were  green  with  wall- 
flowers, and  moss,  and  creepers,  growing  out  of  the 
crevices ;  and  the  top  was  waving  with  taller  weeds. 
We  walked  diagonally  across  the  court  to  Mary's 
Tower,  and  entered,  by  a  few  stone  steps,  to  the  low- 
er floor. 

Bb 


290 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Ruins  of  Mary's  Tower.  The  guide's  narratiTe. 

This  floor  being  formed  of  stone,  and  resting  upon  a 
stone  arch,  was  still  firm  ;  but  all  the  floors  above,  and 
the  roof,  were  gone.  We  could,  however,  in  imagina- 
tion, restore  the  apartments  to  their  former  state,  by 
means  of  various  remains  and  indications  in  the  walls 
There  were  rows  of  holes  in  the  masonry  where  the 
beams  for  the  floors  had  entered.  There  was  a  fire- 
place for  each  story,  and  loop-holes  for  look-outs.  There 
was  one  good  window  which  projected  over  the  wa- 
ter, that  is,  over  where  the  water  was  in  former  days. 
It  was  from  this  window,  the  guide  said,  that  Mary 
made  her  escape  ;  in  fact,  it  must  have  been  from  this, 
for  there  was  no  other  opening  sufficiently  large.  In 
an  angle  of  the  wall  was  a  door-way  leading  to  a  flight 
of  stairs  by  which  we  could  ascend  to  the  chamber, 
that  is,  to  the  entrance  to  it;  but  the  floor  being  gone, 
of  course  we  could  not  go  in.  I  crept  round,  however, 
upon  the  wall,  to  gather  some  plants  growing  in  the 
crevices.  We  could  see  distinctly  what  must  have 
been  the  general  arrangement  of  the  room,  from  the 
remains  of  the  fire-place,  the  clocks,  the  loop-holes 
through  the  walls,  and  other  indications.  As  we  stood 
looking  at  this  scene,  the  guide  gave  me  a  narrative  of 
Mary's  escape,  and  the  subsequent  events  of  her  life,  in 
language  which  Sir  Walter  might  have  incorporated, 
word  for  word,  as  one  of  the  most  interesting  passages 
in  a  tale.  He  ended  with  saying,  that  after  "  she  got 
awa'  she  brought  a  few  of  her  friends  thegither,  but 
could  na'  mak'  head  against  her  enemies ;  and  sae  she 
fled  to  England,  in  hopes  she  could  find  somebody  to 
take  part  wi'  her  there ;  but  she  was  joost  taken  by 
Queen  Elizabeth,  who  was  her  ain  cousin,  and  shut  up 
in  prison  for  a  great  many  years,  and  then  beheaded. 


LOCH  LEVEN. 


291 


The  arch.  Drawbridge  and  chain.  Grooves  in  the  stone. 

She  was  very  hardly  used,  puir  leddy  ;  but  she  held 
firm  to  her  principle  through  it  a'." 

After  reflecting  some  moments  mournfully  upon  the 
beautiful  queen's  unhappy  fate,  I  followed  the  guide 
down  under  the  tower,  beneath  the  great  arch  on  which 
it  is  supported.  This  arch  does  not  appear  on  the  out- 
side, the  circular  walls  of  the  tower  being  continued 
down  around  it  to  the  bottom.  There  was  now  a  floor 
of  solid  ground  to  this  dungeon,  where  formerly  the 
water  of  the  loch  had  admission.  The  arch  was  built, 
apparently,  to  support  a  floor  of  masonry  for  the  lower 
apartment  of  the  tower,  in  order  that  the  dampness  of 
the  watery  foundation  might  be  effectually  excluded. 

We  left  the  round  tower,  and  returned  across  the 
court  to  the  square  tower  on  the  northern  side.  As 
has  already  been  explained,  the  entrance,  in  former 
times,  was  in  the  second  story,  by  means  of  a  stair  let 
down  by  chains  from  above.  The  marks  of  the  chain 
were  very  evident  in  the  deep  furrows  cut  in  the  stone 
sill  of  the  window,  showing  that  such  a  stair  must  have 
been  drawn  up  and  down  a  great  many  times.  Of 
course,  this  mode  is  not  now  adopted  to  get  access  to 
the  ruin  ;  but  an  entrance  has  been  provided  through 
a  window  in  the  story  below,  by  building  a  rude  sort 
of  stair-way  to  it  outside.  These  steps  are  formed  of 
the  stones  found  lying  in  the  court-yard.  This  window 
and  all  the  others  were  formerly  rendered  secure  by 
iron  bars  built  into  the  wall.  The  sockets  where  these 
bars  were  inserted  into  the  stone  still  remain,  though 
the  bars  are  gone. 

We  clambered  in  at  the  window.  The  walls  were 
about  six  feet  thick.  Of  course,  there  was  necessarily, 
at  each  window,  a  recess  as  wide  as  the  window,  and 


292 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Stone  seats.  Trap-door.  Stone  floors.  Windows. 

six  feet  deep.  We  were  ushered,  at  first,  into  this  re- 
cess. There  were  stone  seats  on  each  side  of  it,  pro- 
jecting from  the  wall,  and  worn  very  smooth  by  the 
long  series  of  occupants  which  had  used  them.  From 
the  recess  we  entered  upon  a  floor  of  masonry,  which 
was  now  covered  with  the  grass  and  weeds  that  w^ere 
growing  upon  the  coarse  soil  formed  by  the  decay  of 
the  fragments  which  had  fallen  from  the  walls.  In 
this  floor  was  a  large  square  opening,  which  led  to  a 
dungeon  below,  where  prisoners  had  formerly  been 
confined.  There  had  been  a  trap-door  to  cover  the 
opening,  which  was  the  only  mode  of  access  to  the 
dungeon.  Marks  of  this  door,  or,  rather,  grooves  into 
which  it  had  fitted,  were  still  remaining  in  the  stone 
edging  which  bordered  the  opening. 

The  upper  floors  were  all  gone ;  but  from  indica- 
tions in  the  walls,  similar  to  those  of  the  other  tower, 
we  could  easily  replace  them.  The  lower  apartment 
was  the  kitchen.  The  one  above  was  a  hall ;  and, 
probably,  there  were  sleeping  apartments  over  the  hall. 

There  were  several  windows,  with  large  recesses 
and  stone  seats,  in  this  tower,  such  openings  being 
more  admissible  here,  both  because  this  part  of  the  cas- 
tle was  for  the  residence  of  the  keeper,  and  not  for  the 
prisoner,  and,  also,  because  this  square  tower  project- 
ing within  the  court,  its  walls,  or,  at  least,  three  of  them, 
were  defended  by  the  outer  wall  of  the  inclosure. 
The  windows  had  been,  however,  all  protected  by  iron 
bars ;  and  the  openings  on  the  northern  side,  which  was 
the  side  toward  the  garden,  were  chiefly  loop-holes  and 
sight-holes,  affording  no  possibility  of  entrance  to  an 
enemy.  The  stair-case,  by  which  we  ascended  from 
story  to  story,  was  within  the  thickness  of  the  wall, 


LOCH  LEVEN. 


293 


Court.  Chapel.  Vat.  Oven.  Views. 

and  was  very  narrow,  allowing  only  one  person  to  pass 
at  a  time.  The  guide  pointed  out  these  indications, 
showing  that,  in  the  construction  of  the  castle,  every 
thing  was  sacrificed  to  strength  ;  saying,  "  They  were 
an  awfu*  rude  set  o'  people  in  the  days  when  they  built 
the  like  o*  these  castles  ;  one  joost  cam'  and  plundered 
the  ither,  whenever  he  could  hae  ony  chance." 

We  strolled  about  the  court-yard.  There  were  some 
indications  that  a  small  chapel  had  once  existed  within 
the  inclosure.  There  was  also  a  small  stone  tank,  or 
vat,  which  might,  perhaps,  have  contained  half  a  bar- 
rel, which  the  guide  said  was  supposed  to  have  been 
used  for  brewing  beer.  Outside  the  court,  too,  on  the 
northeast  corner,  toward  the  garden,  was  a  kind  of 
mound,  under  which  we  could  see,  through  openings 
in  the  masonry,  a  large  oven,  where  the  guide  said 
they  "  fired  their  bread."  Every  thing,  however,  indi- 
cated an  extremely  rude  and  primitive  simplicity  in  all 
the  arrangements  of  this  dismal  abode.  Life  must  have 
been  a  dreary  and  monotonous  round  to  all  its  inmates, 
and  an  insupportable  burden,  one  would  think,  to  the 
gentle  and  beautiful  captive  in  the  outer  tower.  She 
could  look  out  through  small  round  openings  on  every 
side  of  her  cell,  and  get  tantalizing  glimpses  of  land- 
scapes beyond  the  lake,  of  surprising  luxuriance  and 
beauty ;  and  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  a  more  lovely 
panorama  than  must  have  presented  itself  to  her  eye 
from  the  battlements  above,  if  she  were  ever  permitted 
to  walk  there.  But  how  severely  must  this  spectacle 
of  the  riches  and  beauty  of  the  realm  of  which  she  had 
been  deprived  have  aggravated  her  sufferings. 

Around  the  border  of  the  garden  are  several  ancient 
trees  which  look  down  upon  the  young  plantation 
B  B  2 


294 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Ancient  trees.  Mary's  hawthorn.  Wall-flowers. 

springing  up  below,  like  patriarchs  upon  children. 
There  was  an  old  hawthorn,  which  tradition  says  that 
Mary  planted.  It  went  to  decay  some  time  since,  and 
was  sawed  off  near  the  root,  but  all  visitors  go  to  see 
It  as  Mary's  tree.  The  stump  remaining  is  of  great 
diameter,  and  small  shoots  are  springing  up  from  the 
roots  around.  The  guide  gave  me  two  or  three  of 
these  shoots,  which  I  told  him  I  should  carry  carefully 
to  America.  We  afterward  walked  around  the  outer 
wall,  under  the  window  from  which  Mary  escaped. 
The  guide  began  to  look  about  for  some  of  the  wall- 
flowers which  were  growing  between  the  stones,  and 
which  were  now  in  seed,  hanging  down  in  clusters  oi 
long,  green  pods  ;  they  were  all  high  above  his  head. 
He  contrived,  however,  to  clamber  up  eight  or  ten  feet 
by  means  of  the  wide  crevices  in  the  walls,  and  bring 
some  down  to  me,  which  he  said  would  grow  if  I  would 
hang  them  up  to  dry.  Although  a  traveler's  facilities 
for  such  agricultural  operations  as  that  are  rather  lim- 
ited, I  took  the  seeds  and  placed  them  in  my  hat ;  and 
wall-flowers,  tracing  back  their  ancestry  to  Mary's 
Tower  at  Loch  Leven,  may  possibly  hereafter  bloom 
from  them  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

We  re-embarked,  and  my  boatmen  rowed  me  back 
to  the  landing.  Our  course  was  nearly  in  the  same  di- 
rection which  Mary  must  have  taken,  as  she  landed, 
without  doubt,  upon  the  southern  shore,  where  the  road 
formerly  passed  near  to  the  loch.  The  road  has  been 
changed  in  modern  times ;  but  the  guide  informed  me 
that  a  part  of  the  old  road  remains,  and  that  there  is 
an  inscription  placed  there  saying  that  Mary  passed 
that  way. 

I  parted  with  the  boatmen  at  the  pier,  and  returned 


LOCH  LEVEN. 


295 


Return  to  the  inn.  Conversation  with  an  old  Scotchman. 

to  the  inn.  An  old  Scotchman  was  sitting  in  the  pub- 
lic room,  a  friend,  apparently,  of  the  waiter's.  He  was 
one  of  that  sort  of  talkative  people  who  seem  to  think 
aloud ;  and  as  he  thought  in  the  broadest  Scotch,  and 
in  a  somewhat  original  manner,  I  listened  to  him  while 
the  waiter  was  preparing  my  dinner,  busying  myself, 
in  the  mean  time,  in  arranging  in  my  guide-book  the 
leaves  from  Queen  Mary's  hawthorn.  "  Ye'll  be  frae 
some  distant  parts,  I'm  thinking,"  said  the  old  gentle- 
man, after  some  minutes'  conversation.  "  Yes,  I  came 
from  a  great  way ;  I  am  from  New  York."  "  Frae 
York  !  oh,  ay  !  a  great  way,  indeed,  I  ken ;  it's  half 
way  to  London."  I  explained  to  him  the  difference  be- 
tween York  and  New  York,  to  which  he  said,  "  Oh, 
ay  !"  and  then,  "  Ye  hae  got  some  wee  bits  o'  sprigs 
there."  I  told  him  I  had  been  to  see  the  castle  where 
Queen  Mary  had  been  imprisoned,  and  that  I  had  got 
the  plants  there^  and  was  going  to  carry  them  to  Amer- 
ica. "  Oh,  ay !  but  do  you  think  they  will  grow  ?"  On 
my  shaking  my  head,  with  a  smile  he  added,  "  Na,  they 
will  nae  grow  ;  they  ha'  na  ony  root."  I  told  him  I  did 
not  expect  them  to  grow  ;  and,  despairing  of  making 
him  think  that  grown  persons  could  take  an  interest  in 
such  things,  I  called  to  mind  some  of  the  youngest  of 
my  pupils,  who  I  knew  would  value  any  thing  associ- 
ated with  the  memory  of  Mary,  and  said  that  I  could 
give  them  to  some  children  when  I  got  to  America, 
and  they  would  like  them.  ".Oh,  ay!"  said  he,  "but 
they  maun  hae  some  age.  The  children  that's  ower 
young  will  na  ken  nor  care  ony  thing  aboot  it." 


296 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Edinburgh.  Ancient  castles.  Origin  of  towns. 


LETTER  XVI. 

EDINBURGH  CASTLE. 

September  7. 

In  ancient  times  castles  were  built  first,  and  towns 
gradually  gathered  around  them.  This  was  strikingly 
the  case  with  Edinburgh.  The  rocky  hill  which  stands 
in  the  center  of  the  city  was  of  just  the  right  form,  and 
in  an  admirable  situation  for  a  strong-hold  in  rude 
times ;  and,  accordingly,  the  earliest  history  of  the 
town  consists  of  incidental  allusions  to  the  fortress. 

It  has  already  been  said  that  the  hill  on  which  the 
castle  stands  is  perpendicular  on  three  sides,  while  on 
the  fourth  there  is  access  to  it  by  a  long  ascent,  which 
is,  in  fact,  the  top  of  a  narrow  ridge  that  rises  grad- 
ually from  the  plain  to  the  southern  side  of  the  castle ; 
and  that  this  ridge  is  now  covered,  sides  and  top,  with 
tall  buildings,  constituting  a  great  part  of  what  is  called 
the  old  town  of  Edinburgh.  There  are  also  included 
in  the  old  town  several  other  streets,  in  the  valleys  and 
along  under  the  precipices,  which  ape  crowned  by  the 
castle. 

It  would  probably  happen  that  the  earliest  dwellings 
which  were  constructed  about  such  a  castle  as  this, 
would  be  in  its  immediate  vicinity ;  that  is,  in  this  case 
at  the  upper  end  of  the  street  ascending  to  it,  and  not 
far  from  the  castle  walls.  It  is  not  customary  to  allow 
such  erections  too  near  to  the  fortress,  for  fear  of  their 
affording  shelter  to  an  enemy.  When  the  abbey  and 
the  royal  palace  were  afterward  built  on  the  plain  be- 
low, at  the  other  end  of  the  street  ascending  to  the 
castle,  this  street,  of  course,  acquired  additional  import- 


EDINBURGH  CASTLE. 


297 


Edinburgh  Castle.  Garrison.  The  regaha. 

ance,  and  other  streets  were  gradually  opened  in  the 
lower  grounds  around.  At  length  the  town  began  to 
possess  an  importance  of  its  own,  and  to  increase  and 
expand  from  its  own  inherent  vitality,  independent  of 
both  the  castle  and  the  palace. 

In  most  of  the  instances  in  England  and  Scotland  in 
which  a  town  has  sprung  up  around  a  castle,  the  castle 
itself  has  long  since  gone  to  decay  and  been  forgotten  ; 
or  else,  if  it  still  stands,  it  stands  as  a  ruin,  attracting 
attention  only  as  a  memorial  of  other  days.  But  the 
Castle  of  Edinburgh  is  an  exception  to  this  rule.  It  is 
kept  up  still,  in  a  very  complete  state  of  repair  and  ef- 
ficiency, and  would,  probably,  now  offer  as  effectual 
resistance  to  an  enemy  as  it  did  five  or  six  centuries 
ago,  provided  that  the  enemy  assailing  it  were  of  the 
same  kind,  and  armed  with  the  same  weapons  now  as 
then.  There  is  an  English  garrison  of  several  hund- 
red soldiers  kept  in  it.  Its  walls,  and  ramparts,  and 
batteries  are  all  kept  in  perfect  condition,  and  it  looks 
down  from  its  rocky  seat  upon  the  magnificent  streets 
and  edifices,  which  cover  valley  and  plain  in  every  di- 
rection around  it,  like  a  vigorous  father  upon  still  more 
vigorous  and  prosperous  children. 

Of  course,  Edinburgh  Castle  is  very  much  visited 
by  all  Scottish  tourists.  They  go  to  it,  too,  not  mere- 
ly to  see  the  castle  itself :  the  regalia^  as  they  are  called, 
that  is,  the  crown,  and  other  emblems  and  badges  of 
royalty  pertaining  to  Scotland  when  it  was  an  inde- 
pendent kingdom,  are  preserved  and  exhibited  in  this 
castle ;  and  they  constitute  a  great  point  of  attraction 
for  all  visitors. 

The  principal  of  these  articles  are  three :  the  crown, 
the  scepter y  and  the  sword  of  state.    Antiquarians  have 


298 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Adventures  of  the  regalia.  Union  of  the  English  and  Scottish  crowns. 

made  out  quite  a  history  of  them,  by  examining  an- 
cient records,  and  studying  the  marks  and  inscriptions 
upon  them.  They  had,  it  seems,  a  great  variety  of 
adventures  and  escapes  from  danger  in  the  various 
struggles  which  took  place  for  the  possession  of  the 
Scottish  throne  two  or  three  centuries  ago.  It  will  be 
recollected,  perhaps,  by  the  reader,  that  as  the  royal 
families  of  England  and  Scotland  were  related  to  each 
other  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth,  and  as  Elizabeth  died 
without  any  direct  heirs,  the  King  of  Scotland  succeed- 
ed to  the  English  throne  ;  and,  for  some  time  after  that 
period,  the  two  countries,  while  they  remained  sepa- 
rate as  kingdoms,  were  still  under  one  and  the  same 
king.  By  the  kingdoms  being  separate,  I  mean  that 
each  had  its  ovv^n  separate  Parliament,  and  its  own  gov- 
ernment and  laws.  James  VI.,  the  son  of  Mary,  was 
the  King  of  Scotland  who  thus  became  King  of  En- 
gland ;  and,  of  course,  when  he  died,  both  crowns  de- 
volved upon  Charles  I.,  his  successor.  Charles  sent  to 
Scotland  to  have  the  regalia  brought  to  London,  that 
he  might  there  be  invested  with  the  badges  pertaining 
to  both  the  realms.  But  the  Scotch  would  not  consent 
to  this.  They  admitted  that  he  was  rightfully  their 
monarch,  but  claimed  that  Scotland  was  an  entirely 
distinct  and  independent  monarchy  from  England,  and 
that  he  must  come  to  Scone,  the  ancient  place  of  cor- 
onation for  the  Scottish  kings,  to  be  crowned. 

Charles  I.,  after  some  years  of  difficulty  and  trouble, 
was  imprisoned,  tried,  and  beheaded  ;  and  the  English 
Parliament,  who  had  thus  dethroned  their  own  king, 
wished  to  extend  the  revolution  to  Scotland.  In  the 
difficulties  and  wars  which  arose  out  of  these  circum- 
stances, the  Scotch  Parliament  had  great  trouble  in 


EDINBURGH  CASTLE. 


299 


Dunnottar.  Danger  of  the  regalia.  Letter. 

keeping  these  regalia  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the 
English.  At  one  time  they  were  sent  away  to  the 
north,  to  a  castle  built  on  a  point  of  land  jutting  out 
into  the  sea,  to  the  southward  of  Aberdeen.  The  name 
of  the  castle  was  Dunnottar.  They  sent  a  military 
force  there,  and  a  supply  of  artillery,  to  protect  the  cas- 
tle. The  English,  however,  were  continually  advanc- 
ing, being  successful  in  all  their  enterprises,  until,  as 
they  approached  nearer  and  nearer  to  Dunnottar,  the 
governor  feared  that  he  should  be  obliged  to  surren- 
der his  fortress,  and  deliver  the  regalia  into  their  hands. 
In  his  alarm,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Lord  High-chan- 
cellor of  Scotland,  asking  him  what  he  should  do.  He 
received  the  following  answer.  He  had  previously, 
however,  had  an  offer  from  Lord  Balcarras  to  take  the 
regalia  away  to  some  secure  place  in  the  Highlands, 
which  offer  he  had  declined,  feeling  bound  not  to  let 
them  go  out  of  his  own  personal  charge.  Besides  the 
national  feeling  of  pride  in  the  possession  of  these  em- 
blems of  sovereignty,  the  articles  were  of  immense  pe- 
cuniary value,  being  constructed  of  massive  gold  and 
silver,  and  profusely  enriched  with  precious  stones. 

"  I  conceive,"  said  the  lord  chancellor,  in  his  reply, 
"  that  the  trust  committed  to  you,  and  the  safe  custody 
of  the  things  under  your  charge,  did  require  that  vic- 
tual, a  competent  number  of  honest  and  stout  soldiers, 
and  all  other  necessaries,  should  have  been  provided 
and  put  in  the  castle  before  you  had  been  in  any  haz- 
ard ;  and  if  you  be  in  good  condition,  or  that  you  can 
timely  supply  yourself  with  all  necessaries,  and  that  the 
place  be  tenable  against  all  attempts  of  the  enemie,  I 
doubt  not  but  you  will  hold  out.  But  if  you  want  pro- 
visions, sojers,  and  ammunition,  and  can  not  hold  out 


300 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Plans  for  escape.  The  bundles  of  flax. 

at  the  assaultis  of  the  enemie,  which  is  feared  and 
thought  you  can  not  doe  if  you  be  hardlye  persued,  I 
know  no  better  expedient  than  that  the  Honours  of  the 
Crowne  be  speedilye  and  saiflie  transported  to  some 
remote  and  strong  castle  or  hold  in  the  Highlands ; 
and  I  wish  you  had  delivered  them  to  the  Lord  Bal- 
carras,  as  was  desired  by  the  Committee  of  Estates ; 
nor  doe  I  knowe  any  better  way  for  preservatione  of 
these  thingis,  and  your  exoneration ;  and  it  will  be  an 
irreparable  lose^and  shame  if  these  thingis  shall  be  taken 
by  the  enemie,  and  verie  dishonourable  for  yourself. 
So  having  given  you  the  best  advice  I  can  at  present, 
I  trust  you  will,  with  all  care  and  faithfulness,  be  an- 
swerable, according  to  the  trust  committed  to  you." 

The  castle  was,  however,  now  so  closely  invested 
on  the  land  side,  that  it  was  too  late  to  send  away  the 
regalia  in  that  direction.  The  governor  next  tried  to 
have  a  small  vessel  sent  to  take  them  off  by  sea ;  but  this 
plan  also  failed.  The  Scotch  commanders  had  no  ves- 
sel to  send.  At  length  a  lady,  a  countess  in  rank,  con- 
trived a  plan  for  getting  the  regalia  away.  The  plan 
was  concerted  with  the  wife  of  the  governor  of  the  cas- 
tle. He  himself  was  to  know  nothing  about  it,  so  that 
when  the  castle  was  taken,  he  could  say  honestly  that 
he  did  not  know  where  the  regalia  were  gone.  These 
ladies  made  an  arrangement  with  the  wife  of  a  minister 
of  a  small  parish  near  the  castle,  named  Mrs.  Granger. 
Mrs.  Granger  got  permission  of  the  English  general  to 
go  into  the  castle  to  visit  the  lady  of  the  governor. 
She  took  two  maids  with  her.  When  she  came  out, 
the  maids  were  loaded  with  bundles  of  lint  or  flax, 
something  which  she  was  going,  as  she  pretended,  to 
have  spun  into  thread  for  the  governor's  lady.  The 


EDINBURGH  CASTLE. 


301 


Place  of  deposit  Receipt  SuiTender  of  the  castle. 

scepter  and  sword  of  state  were  in  these  bundles.  Mrs. 
Granger  had  the  crown  herself,  concealed  about  her 
person.  They  carried  them  to  Mr.  Granger,  who  im- 
mediately buried  them  under  the  pavement  of  the 
church.  He  gave  the  countess,  who  had  planned  the 
whole  scheme,  the  following  receipt  for  them  : 

"  I,  Mr.  James  Granger,  minister  at  KinnefF,  grant 
me  to  have  in  my  custody  the  Honours  of  the  kingdom, 
viz.,  the  Crown,  Sceptre,  and  Sword.  For  the  Crown 
and  Sceptre,  I  raised  the  pavement  stone  just  before 
the  pulpit,  in  the  night  tyme,  and  digged  under  it  ane 
hole,  and  put  them  in  there,  and  filled  up  the  hole,  and 
layed  down  the  stone  just  as  it  was  before,  and  re- 
moved the  mould  that  remained,  that  none  would  have 
discerned  the  stone  to  have  been  raised  at  all ;  the 
Sword,  again,  at  the  west  end  of  the  church,  amongst 
some  common  seits  that  stand  there,  I  digged  down  in 
the  ground  betwixt  the  two  foremost  of  these  seits,  and 
layed  it  down  within  the  case  of  it,  and  covered  it  up, 
as  that,  removing  the  superfluous  mould,  it  could  not  be 
discerned  by  any  body  ;  and  if  it  shall  please  God  to 
call  me  by  death  before  they  be  called  for,  your  Lady- 
ship will  find  them  in  that  place. 

''March  31,  1652." 

Two  months  after  this  the  castle  was  surrendered. 
When  the  English  general,  however,  found  that  the 
regalia  were  gone,  and  that  the  governor  and  his  lady 
would  give  no  account  of  when  or  where,  he  treated 
them  with  great  cruelty.  It  is  said  that  Mr.  Granger 
and  his  wife  were  suspected,  and  that  extremely  rig- 
orous measures  were  adopted  to  make  them  reveal  the 
secret,  but  in  vain.  The  governor's  lady  herself  died 
about  two  years  afterward,  in  consequence,  it  was  said 

C  c 


302 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  restoration.  The  union  of  kingdoms. 

of  the  hardships  she  endured  on  this  account ;  but  she 
kept  the  secret  to  the  last.  The  countess  afterward 
contrived  to  make  the  English  authorities  believe  that 
she  had  sent  the  regalia  to  Paris  by  her  son.  So  they 
ceased  to  look  for  them,  and  the  deposit  remained  safe 
in  its  place  of  concealment.  The  minister  and  his  wife 
took  up  the  stone,  from  time  to  time,  to  see  that  all  was 
right,  and  to  watch  against  any  injury  the  articles  might 
receive  from  damp  or  other  causes. 

At  length  the  English  republican  government  came 
to  an  end,  and  the  monarchy  was  restored  in  Charles 
the  Second's  accession.  The  regalia  were  then  brought 
out  from  their  hiding-place,  and  all  the  facts  made 
known.  The  persons  concerned  in  their  preservation 
were  all  rewarded,  either  with  money  or  with  hon- 
ors. The  regalia  were  put  under  the  charge  of  the 
Scotch  Parliament,  and  were  brought  forward  on  all 
great  state  occasions.  And  this  continued  until  the 
union  of  the  kingdoms  of  England  and  Scotland,  which 
took  place  about  the  beginning  of  the  last  century. 
There  was  a  great  excitement  among  the  people  at  the 
proposal  of  this  union,  and  a  strong  and  bitter  contest 
in  relation  to  it.  This  excitement  was  specially  violent 
in  respect  to  these  national  insignia,  which  some  per 
sons  pretended  were  to  be  carried  away  to  London  : 
an  idea  which  many  of  the  people  of  Scotland  could 
not  endure.  And  on  the  other  side,  since  the  merging 
of  the  Scotch  kingdom  in  the  English  was  decided  upon, 
it  seemed  unwise  to  keep  these  emblems  of  separate  na- 
tionality here  in  Edinburgh,  to  remind  the  Scotch  con- 
tinually of  other  days,  and  to  keep  the  agitation  alive. 
Finally,  it  was  decided  to  leave  the  regalia  in  Edin- 
burgh, but  to  lock  them  up  out  of  public  view.  They 


EDINBURGH  CASTLE. 


303 


Crown  Room.  Iron  chest.  Search  for  records. 

were  accordingly  deposited  in  an  enormous  oaken  chest, 
iron  bound,  and  secured  with  three  strong  locks.  Thev 
were  placed  in  this  chest  with  great  ceremony,  in  the 
presence  of  many  authorities,  Scotch  and  English. 
The  chest  was  deposited  in  what  is  called  the  Crown 
Room  in  Edinburgh  Castle.  This  room  is  not  large, 
but  it  is  very  strong  and  secure,  the  stone  walls  of  it 
being  carried  up  in  the  form  of  a  vault  over  head,  so 
that  it  is  wholly  inclosed  with  stone.  There  were  two 
doors,  an  inner  and  outer  one,  both  covering  the  same 
entrance.  One  of  these  doors  was  of  oak,  and  the  oth- 
er of  iron  ;  and  both  of  them  were  secured  with  bolts, 
bars,  and  locks  in  the  strongest  manner.  Things  re- 
mained in  this  state,  without  either  the  chest  or  the 
room  being  opened,  for  about  ninety  years ! 

At  the  end  of  ninety  years  the  English  government 
were  making  a  search  for  some  lost  records,  and  the 
king  sent  some  commissioners  to  Scotland  to  open  this 
crown  room  to  see  if  they  were  there.  The  keys  were, 
however,  not  to  be  found.  There  was  no  record  or 
evidence  in  respect  to  what  had  been  done,  either  with 
the  keys  of  the  room  or  of  the  chest.  The  commis- 
sioners, however,  caused  the  doors  to  be  opened  by 
smiths,  and  went  in ;  they  did  not  find  the  records. 
The  chest  was  there  in  safety,  secured  by  "its  three 
locks  :  but  the  commissioners  did  not  feel  authorized  to 
open  it.  After  completing  their  search,  they  closed 
the  room  again,  and  secured  the  doors  as  before ;  and  it 
remained  thus  shut  about  a  quarter  of  a  century  more. 

At  length,  about  1817,  the  English  government  con- 
cluded that  there  was  no  longer  any  reason  for  keep- 
ing these  regalia  excluded  from  public  view.  Two  or 
three  generations  had  passed  away  since  they  were 


304 


BUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Opening  the  iron  chest.  Commissioners.  Great  excitement 

shut  up  in  the  chest,  and  there  was  no  longer  any  agi- 
tation of  the  public  mind  in  connection  with  them.  The 
union  of  the  two  kingdoms  was  acquiesced  in  by  every 
one ;  and  the  separate  nationality  of  Scotland  was  no 
longer  any  thing  but  a  historical  idea.  Orders  were 
given,  therefore,  for  opening  the  great  chest  and  bring- 
ing out  the  treasures  it  contained  once  more  to  human 
vision,  after  their  long  slumber  of  more  than  a  hundred 
years. 

Of  course,  the  opening  of  the  great  chest  was  a  scene 
of  intense  interest  and  excitement.  A  large  commis- 
sion was  appointed  to  perform  the  duty.  Sir  Walter 
Scott  was  one  of  the  members.  There  was  some  doubt 
whether  the  regalia  would  really  be  found  in  the  chest 
when  it  was  opened ;  as,  not  long  after  the  time  of 
their  supposed  deposit  there,  it  was  strongly  maintain- 
ed by  many  persons  that  they  were  not  really  left 
there,  but  had  been  taken  off  to  England.  Of  course, 
the  curiosity  and  excitement  among  the  people,  when 
the  time  for  the  opening  arrived,  was  very  great ;  they 
collected  in  crowds  around  and  in  the  castle,  and 
awaited  the  result.  The  commissioners  proceeded  to 
the  room,  forced  the  chest,  and  found  all  the  treasures 
safe.  They  hoisted  the  royal  flag  upon  the  castle  as 
the  signal  of  their  success,  and  the  crowd  cheered  with 
long-continued  acclamations.  Arrangements  w^ere  soon 
made  for  admitting  the  public  to  see  the  regalia,  and 
they  have  had  an  almost  uninterrupted  succession  of 
visitors  from  that  time  down  to  the  present  day.  They 
are  exhibited  in  the  same  crown  room  in  which  they 
were  so  long  concealed,  the  great  chest,  with  its  broken 
bolts  and  bars,  standing  empty  by  their  side. 

In  going  to  see  the  regalia,  it  is  necessary  first  to 


EDINBURGH  CASTLE. 


305 


Mode  of  admission.  Procuring  ticket  Fee  expected. 

apply  at  a  certain  public  office  for  a  ticket  of  admis- 
sion. Nothing  is  charged  for  this  ticket,  and  the  ob- 
ject of  the  arrangement  seems  to  be  to  regulate  the 
admissions  a  little,  so  as  to  prevent  confusion,  and  ex- 
clude mere  idlers  and  loungers.  The  place  where  the 
visitor  applies  for  a  ticket  is  a  large  edifice,  containing 
many  public  offices.  It  opens  upon  a  small  court  con- 
nected with  the  High  Street.  As  you  approach  the 
door  of  this  building  to  obtain  your  ticket,  looking 
about  this  way  and  that,  and  uncertain  where  to  go, 
very  probably  a  man  will  advance  toward  you  on  the 
steps,  touch  his  hat,  and  ask  very  respectfully  whether 
you  wish  for  a  ticket  to  see  the  regalia.  Upon  your 
answering  in  the  affirmative,  he  says  he  will  show  you 
the  way,  and  he  conducts  you  to  a  particular  door, 
which,  among  a  dozen  others,  is  the  one  where  you 
are  to  apply. 

On  entering  and  making  your  application,  you  are 
requested  to  inscribe  your  name  and  address  in  a  book 
kept  for  the  purpose.  If  you  choose,  you  purchase  of 
the  clerk  a  little  book  for  a  shilling,  which  gives  a  brief 
history  of  the  regalia.  When  you  come  out  of  the  of- 
fice, the  man  who  guided  you  into  it  is  there,  and  asks 
if  you  would  like,  also,  a  ticket  to  see  Heriot's  Hospital, 
which  is  a  sort  of  orphan  asylum,  and  one  of  the  prom- 
inent institutions  of  Edinburgh.  It  is  very  richly  en- 
dowed, and  it  occupies  one  of  the  most  splendid  edi- 
fices of  the  city.  You  assent,  and  your  guide  conducts 
you  to  another  office,  where  you  receive  a  second  tick- 
et. When  you  come  out,  he  touches  his  hat,  and  ex- 
pects some  small  gratuity.  Sixpence  is  a  sufficient  re- 
ward. About  half  the  persons  whom  he  thus  directs 
very  cheerfully  give  him  his  sixpence,  considering  it 

C  c2 


306 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  High  Street.  Old  buildings  and  new. 

worth  a  small  sum  to  have  been  relieved  of  all  embar- 
rassment, and  provided  w^ith  their  tickets  without  any 
delay,  especially  if  they  were  conducting  a  party  of 
ladies  and  had  left  them  waiting  in  the  court.  The 
other  half  refuse  ;  or  else,  if  they  give  the  money,  it  is 
with  expressions  of  fretfulness  and  impatience  at  the 
endless  contrivances  resorted  to  in  this  country  to  ex- 
tort money  from  the  traveler. 

According  to  the  regulations  adopted,  a  ticket  must 
be  used  on  the  day  in  which  it  is  issued ;  and,  as  the 
office  is  in  the  High  Street,  it  is  usual  to  call  there  for 
the  ticket  on  the  way  to  the  castle.  In  ascending  the 
High  Street,  it  is  natural  to  reflect,  as  you  go  on,  that 
you  are  passing  through  what  has  been  an  inhabited 
street  for  a  thousand  years.  It  grows  more  and  more 
narrow  as  we  ascend,  but  still  the  houses  do  not  look 
particularly  ancient,  the  buildings  having  been  renewed. 
In  fact,  the  number  of  ordinary  dwellings  over  a  hund 
dred  years  old,  in  any  of  the  cities  of  England,  is  com 
paratively  small ;  and  as  in  early  times  the  construe 
tions  were  undoubtedly  much  more  frail  and  tempora- 
ry than  those  now  built,  it  is  probable  ihdii  fifty  years 
would  be  a  full  average  for  the  duration  of  ordinary 
street  architecture  ;  so  that  London,  for  example,  will 
have  been  built  over  and  over  again  twenty  times  with- 
in the  last  thousand  years.  Thus  there  have  been  twen- 
ty Londons,  one  after  the  other,  nothing  having  been 
permanent  but  the  streets,  and  the  streams  of  people 
passing  along  them. 

At  the  upper  end  of  the  High  Street  the  open  space 
suddenly  expanded  into  a  broad  esplanade,  or  parade 
ground,  which  occupies  the  space  immediately  before 
the  gates  of  the  palac^.    The  area  of  the  esplanade  is 


EDINBURGH  CASTLE. 


307 


The  esplanade.  Parapet  wall.  Prospect.  Cannon. 

graveled,  except  a  paved  road-way  up  through  the 
center  ;  and  there  is  a  low  wall,  surmounted  by  an  iron 
palisade,  on  the  two  sides.  On  approaching  these  walls 
we  found  that  they  were  built  on  the  brink  of  the  prec- 
ipice, so  that  the  esplanade  occupied  the  whole  breadth 
of  the  hill.  Magnificent  views  were  presented  to  the 
spectator  on  either  hand.  On  one  side  we  look  down 
upon  the  streets  and  roofs  of  an  ancient  part  of  the  city, 
far  below  us,  with  a  broad  and  beautifully  smooth  road 
between,  winding  gracefully  among  green  slopes  at  the 
foot  of  the  rock.  At  a  Httle  distance  are  the  buildings 
and  grounds  of  Heriot's  Hospital,  the  turrets  rising 
among  the  trees.  On  the  other  side  we  look  across 
the  steep  and  narrow  valley,  north  of  the  castle,  to 
Prince's-street.  The  valley  itself  beneath  us  is  a  per- 
fect landscape  garden  ;  and  the  spires,  and  monuments, 
and  long  ranges  of  elegant  buildings  of  the  new  town 
are  spread  broadly  before  us  beyond. 

At  length  we  advanced  to  the  upper  end  of  the  es- 
planade, toward  the  great  gate  of  the  castle.  The  for- 
tress itself  consists  of  a  congeries  of  buildings,  present- 
ing the  appearance  of  a  little  city  rather  than  of  a  sin- 
gle castle ;  and,  as  we  approached,  we  looked  up  to 
the  mouths  of  the  cannon  pointing  at  us  from  a  great 
variety  of  embrasures,  bastions,  and  batteries,  with  here 
and  there  a  sentinel  in  uniform  walking  to  and  fro  be- 
hind a  parapet.  We  entered,  and  found  ourselves  in 
a  labyrinth  of  roads,  with  walls,  buttresses,  and  tow- 
ers all  around  us.  We  passed  on,  continually  ascend- 
ing, through  court  after  court,  occasionally  stopping  to 
inquire  of  a  soldier  the  way  to  the  regalia  room,  until 
at  last  we  found  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  a  square,  grav- 
eled area  of  considerable  size,  and  surrounded  by  build- 


308 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Tho  Crown  Room,  Brilliant  display.  The  cage, 

ings,  which  seemed  to  be  barracks  for  the  soldiers. 
There  was  a  small  collection  of  ladies  and  gentlemen 
at  a  door  on  one  side  of  this  square,  which  indicated 
the  place  where  we  were  to  seek  admission. 

We  had  to  wait  a  few  minutes,  until  those  who  were 
already  in  the  Crown  Room  should  come  down.  A  lim- 
ited number  of  those  who  were  assembled  with  us  at 
the  door  were  then  called  up.  We  ascended  one  by 
one  up  a  narrow  stair-way,  passing  gradually  out  of 
the  daylight,  until  at  length  we  emerged  into  a  small 
room,  dark  all  around  the  sides,  but  with  a  very  brill- 
iant illumination  in  the  center  of  it.  This  illumination 
was  produced  by  the  light  of  several  powerful  gas  burn- 
ers, reflected  by  mirrors  placed  behind  them  down  upon 
the  gold  and  jewels  which  we  had  come  to  see. 

The  first  impression  made  upon  the  spectator  by 
sach  a  magnificent  display,  in  such  a  light,  is  very  im- 
posing. We  see  the  gold  and  jewelry  through  the  bars 
of  an  iron  grating,  which,  on  examination,  we  perceive 
to  form  part  of  a  great  iron  cage,  within  which  the  re- 
galia are  placed  upon  a  table,  by  which  means  all 
possible  access  to  the  articles  themselves  by  the  visit- 
ors is  effectually  prevented.  There  is  but  little  more 
than  space  between  this  cage  and  the  walls  of  the 
room  to  walk  around  in  ;  and  the  cage  is  large  enough 
to  furnish  room  for  perhaps  twelve  persons  to  stand 
about  it  at  a  time.  As  soon  as  we  were  all  placed,  the 
conductress  proceeded  to  describe  the  various  articles, 
and  to  give  some  particulars  of  their  history,  after 
which  she  answered  the  questions  which  any  of  us 
were  disposed  to  ask.  The  great  chest  still  remains 
in  the  room,  at  one  end,  where  it  can  be  dimly  seen  by 
the  light  which  escapes  and  finds  its  way  to  it,  indi- 


EDINBURGH  CASTLE. 


309 


The  chest  Jewels  and  badges.  Mons  Meg. 

rectly,  behind  the  reflectors.  It  is  a  monstrous  chest 
of  oak,  six  feet  long  and  three  feet  deep,  bound  in  the 
strongest  manner  with  straps  of  iron.  The  ponderous 
padlocks  with  which  it  had  been  secured  remained 
faithful  to  their  trust,  locked  still ;  for,  as  has  been  al- 
ready stated,  the  keys  had  never  been  obtained,  and 
the  chest  had  been  opened  by  cutting  through  some  of 
the  bars  of  iron. 

After  looking  at  the  chest,  the  spectators  turn  around 
to  the  cage  again,  to  take  another  view  of  the  splendors 
spread  out  upon  the  table  within.  There  are  not  mere- 
ly the  regalia  there,  that  is,  the  three  articles  whose 
history  has  been  given,  but  a  number  of  other  ancient 
jewels  and  badges  belonging  formerly  to  the  Scottish 
kings,  and  now  deposited  here.  There  are  eight  or 
nine  in  all ;  and  as  they  lie  there,  reposing  upon  the  vel- 
vet cloths  and  cushions  within  their  grating,  and  illu- 
minated by  the  strong  nocturnal  light,  which  shows  to 
great  advantage  the  richness  of  the  gold  and  the  brill 
iancy  of  the  gems,  the  effect  is  certainly  imposing. 

We  came  down  the  narrow  stair- way  again  to  make 
room  for  our  successors,  who  were  waiting,  in  the  mean 
time,  patiently  at  the  door,  new-comers  constantly  ar- 
riving to  take  the  places  of  those  going  away.  We 
rambled  about  the  castle  some  time  longer.  We  as- 
cended to  the  higher  platforms  and  batteries,  where  we 
saw  an  enormous  cannon,  made  in  ancient  times  of  bars 
of  iron,  bound  together  by  iron  hoops,  and  known  in 
history  by  the  name  of  Mons  Meg.  Great  and  pon- 
derous as  it  is,  it  has  been  quite  a  traveler  in  its  day ; 
having  been  transported  from  place  to  place  in  former 
times,  according  as  its  services  were  required.  While 
the  regalia  were  in  Dunnottar  Castle  this  monster  was 


310 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Mons  Meg  still  on  duty,  but  disabled. 

sent  there  to  guard  them,  and  now  it  seems  to  be,  in  its 
old  age,  on  the  same  duty,  as  it  stands  upon  its  paved 
platform  above  the  Crow^n  Room  where  its  ancient 
trusts  are  deposited.  It  rests  upon  an  excellent  carriage, 
which  is  in  perfect  order.  Its  monstrous  muzzle  points 
through  the  embrasure,  and  a  pile  of  enormous  balls, 
of  lead  and  of  stone,  lie  beneath  it,  all  ready.  These 
marks  of  preparation,  however,  are  all  mere  pretension, 
to  gratify  and  amuse  the  war-worn  veteran  in  his  old 
age.  He  is  disabled.  The  iron  bars  were  forced 
apart  in  the  side  of  the  gun  at  the  last  discharge  which 
it  endured,  and  it  will  never  be  fired  again. 


LEAVING  SCOTLAND. 


311 


The  labor  market  in  Glasgow.  What  an  English  farmer  is. 


LETTER  XVII. 

LEAVING  SCOTLAND. 

New  York,  November  23. 

After  various  other  Vi^anderings  and  adventures  not 
related  in  these  pages,  I  found  myself,  one  cool  autum- 
nal morning,  climbing  up  a  ladder  to  the  top  of  a  stage- 
coach in  the  streets  of  Glasgow.  It  was  very  early, 
half  an  hour  before  sunrise.  The  streets  were  thronged 
with  men  and  women  in  the  dress  of  an  agricultural 
peasantry,  all  armed  with  sickles,  and  standing  about 
upon  the  sidewalks  and  pavements,  in  groups  and 
crowds,  waiting  to  be  hired  for  the  day,  as  reapers  in 
the  fields  about  the  city.  The  farmers,  or  their  agents, 
were  walking  about  among  them,  selecting  and  en- 
gaging them.  The  word  farmer  must  be  understood, 
however,  in  the  English  sense.  It  does  not  denote,  as 
in  our  country,  a  plain  and  sturdy  proprietor  of  a  small 
domain,  which  he  tills  with  his  own  hands  and  those 
of  his  sons  ;  but  a  sort  of  semi-gentleman,  who  hires  the 
right  to  cultivate  a  portion  of  the  land,  of  a  proprietor 
as  far  above  him  as  the  rude  and  half-clad  laborers  in 
the  market  are  below  him.  He  is  not  even  tenant^  in 
a  full  and  unrestricted  sense.  He  has  only  the  right  to 
crop  the  land.  Somebody  else  has  "  the  shooting," 
that  is,  the  right  to  trample  or  ride  over  the  domain  in 
every  direction  in  pursuit  of  game ;  and  a  third  party, 
perhaps,  has  hired  the  right  to  fish  in  the  streams. 

Nor  is  the  proprietor,  so  called,  any  more  really  and 
fully  in  possession  as  proprietor  than  the  tenant  is  as 
tenant.  He  is  restricted  and  barred  in  the  same  way. 
The  estate  is  his  while  he  lives.    He  can  not  sell  it  or 


312 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


English  ideas  of  the  "  family."  American  ideas  of  the  same. 

alienate  it.  His  right  seems  to  consist  simply  in  the 
privilege  of  deciding  to  what  parties  to  lease  the  till- 
age, the  shooting,  and  the  fishing  during  his  life,  and  to 
expend  the  income.  At  his  death  it  goes  to  his  son, 
who  has,  in  the  same  manner,  a  mere  Hfe  occupancy, 
there  being  no  honest,  actual  fee  any  where ;  or,  if  it 
exists  at  all,  vesting  in  a  certain  abstraction  called 
"  the  family."  This  word  family,  too,  must  be  under- 
stood entirely  in  its  English  sense.  In  America,  a 
family  is  a  little  group  of  cotemporaries ;  father  and 
mother,  brothers  and  sisters,  all  dwelling  together  un- 
der a  common  roof,  and  sharing  equally  in  the  present 
blessings  and  future  hopes  which  fall  to  their  common 
lot.  Or,  if  they  are  grown  up  and  scattered  abroad, 
they  are  still  bound  together  by  a  common  interest 
and  affection,  and  all  stand  upon  a  social  level,  except 
so  far  as  the  sense  of  equality  is  modified  by  a  slight 
feeling  of  deference  and  respect  for  the  older  brother, 
which,  however,  the  lapse  of  a  very  few  years  is  found, 
very  properly,  sufficient  to  remove.  In  England  a 
family  is  another  thing  altogether.  Instead  of  a  co- 
temporaneous  group,  it  is  a  long  succession — a  line 
coming  down  from  former  centuries,  and  running  on 
toward  posterity — having  only  one  representative  in  a 
generation.  It  is  the  family  in  this  sense,  whose  in- 
terest, welfare,  and  aggrandizement  the  Englishman 
labors  to  secure.  The  American  father  and  mother 
love  their  children  equally.  They  think  far  more  of 
their  own  youngest  child,  actually  in  existence  and  in 
their  arms,  than  of  all  remote  posterity  together.  The 
Englishman,  on  the  other  hand,  thinks  of  nothing  but  the 
line.  He  sees  a  long  succession,  descending  from  the 
past,  and  is  proud  of  the  distance  from  which  it  has 


LEAVING  SCOTLAND. 


313 


Primogeniture  and  entail.  How  the  law  works  in  America. 

come  in  that  direction.  His  highest  ambition  is  to  se- 
cure its  uninterrupted  continuance  for  as  long  a  period 
as  possible  to  come.  For  the  benefit  of  this  succession, 
of  which  he  can  ordinarily  know  only  two  individuals 
— the  one  who  precedes,  and  the  one  who  follows  him — 
he  postpones  the  welfare  of  the  whole  group  of  sons 
and  daughters  that  have  grown  up  about  his  fireside, 
and  entwined  themselves  personally,  as  one  would  sup- 
pose, with  every  affection  of  his  heart.  He  loves  them 
in  childhood ;  but  when  they  arrive  at  maturity,  they 
are  sent  forth  to  the  world  alone,  to  sicken  and  die  in 
Jamaica,  to  wear  out  an  interminable  exile  on  the 
plains  of  Hindostan,  or  to  wander  about  the  world  per- 
petual midshipmen,  in  order  that  the  eldest  son  and  his 
lineal  descendants  may  be  provided  for  forever.  The 
children  are  given  up  to  be  lost,  that  "  the  family"  may 
be  aggrandized  and  saved. 

It  is  true,  that  is  done  often  by  the  operation  of  the 
laws,  the  property  being  entailed,  and  made  to  descend 
entire  to  a  single  heir,  instead  of  being  divided,  as  with 
us ;  but  this  only  shows  that  the  people  of  England 
pursue  this  course  by  their  joint  action,  instead  of  doing 
it  individually.  And  if  the  laws  were  repealed,  they 
would  probably,  in  most  instances,  as  I  was  informed, 
still  secure  the  same  end  by  their  wills.  In  fact,  a  gen- 
tleman who  was  seated  with  me  upon  the  coach,  and 
with  whom  I  began  to  converse  on  the  subject  as  we 
rode  away  from  Glasgow,  expressed  surprise  when  he 
learned  from  me  that  real  estate  could  be  left  by  will,  in 
America,  to  any  party  the  testator  might  please  should 
inherit  it.  "Indeed  !"  said  he  ;  "I  thought  the  laws  re- 
quired its  being  divided  equally."  "  Not  at  all,"  I  re- 
plied ;  "  the  laws  divide  it  equally  in  the  absence  of 

Dd 


314 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Founding  a  family.  How  the  younger  eons  are  provided  for. 

any  testamentary  directions ;  but  the  proprietor  may 
convey  it,  by  his  will,  as  he  pleases."  "  Then  why 
does  not  he  give  it  all  to  his  oldest  son  ?"  "  Because 
he  loves  the  others  just  as  much  as  he  does  him."  "But 
does  not  he  want  to  found  a  family  V  added  my  inter- 
locutor, in  a  tone  of  surprise. 

This  idea  of  founding  a  family,  in  the  sense  of  a  con- 
tinuous line  of  representatives  running  down  to  pos- 
terity, seems  to  be  the  great  aim  of  almost  all  English- 
men who  acquire  property  ;  and  so  prevalent  is  the 
feeling,  that,  even  if  the  law  of  primogeniture  were 
abolished,  property  would  be  bequeathed  very  exten- 
sively, if  not  generally,  to  the  oldest  son,  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  others.  The  younger  sons  of  the  great  fam- 
ilies are  provided  for  in  the  army  and  navy,  and  in  the 
Church.  In  fact,  a  large  portion  of  the  motive  for  keep- 
ing up  the  vast  military,  and  naval,  and  colonial  estab- 
lishments of  Great  Britain  is  derived  from  the  necessi- 
ty of  making  provision  for  the  younger  members  of  fam- 
ilies left  destitute  by  the  practice  of  conferring  the  pa- 
ternal estates  wholly  upon  the  oldest  son.  To  engage 
in  any  useful  employment  in  the  business  world  would 
be  impossible  for  them,  it  being  not  considered  genteel. 

There  are  thus  a  great  many  points  on  which  the 
ideas  of  Englishmen  and  Americans  are  entirely  op- 
posed to  one  another;  and  American  travelers  are  very 
apt  not  to  come  very  readily  to  a  good  understanding 
with  their  English  companions,  so  far  as  they  are 
thrown  into  connection  with  them  by  the  chances  of 
travel.  There  is  always  a  greater  or  less  degree  of 
jealousy  between  two  nations  who  occupy  at  all  the 
position  of  rivals  to  one  another.  No  doubt  this  jeal- 
ousy exists  in  the  case  of  England  and  America,  and 


LEAVING  SCOTLAND. 


315 


Erroneous  impreesions.  English  Constitution.  Government 

this  feeling  is  increased  by  certain  erroneous  impres- 
sions respecting  our  country  which  ahiiost  universally 
prevail  in  our  father  land. 

One  of  these  impressions  is,  that  there  is  a  general 
wish  in  America  that  England  should  be  revolution- 
ized, and  a  republic  founded  on  the  ruins  of  the  mon- 
archy. I  think  it  the  duty  of  every  American  gentle- 
man traveling  in  Europe  to  endeavor  to  remove  this 
impression  by  stating,  what  is  undoubtedly  the  fact, 
that  all  intelligent  and  well-informed  Americans  wish 
well  to  England  and  to  the  English  Constitution  as  it 
now  stands;  of  course,  including  such  gradual  improve- 
ments and  progress  as  it  is  all  the  time  making  to  adapt 
itself  to  the  advancement  of  civilization,  and  to  the 
changing  spirit  of  the  age.  Such  advances  are  not 
modifications  of  the  English  Constitution,  they  are  only 
the  working  out  of  an  essential  function  of  the  Consti- 
tution itself ;  for  a  capacity  to  follow  and  adapt  itself 
to  the  progress  of  the  times  has  always  been  a  remark- 
able feature  of  this  most  remarkable  bond  of  union,  and 
is  as  essential  a  part  of  it  as  the  provisions  for  main- 
taining the  prerogatives  of  the  crown.  With  this  un 
derstanding,  Americans  wish  well  to  the  English  Con 
stitution  as  it  is.  They  desire  no  sudden  or  violent 
changes  in  English  society,  and  no  interruption  to  the 
vast  operations  of  English  industry.  I  do  not  think 
they  wish  for  any  diminution  of  the  extent  of  English 
power.  Wherever  this  power  extends,  in  whatever 
quarter  of  the  globe,  there  travelers  can  go  with  safe- 
ty— there  letters  can  penetrate,  and  merchandise  be 
sent  and  sold.  It  is  true  that  pride  and  ambition  have, 
no  doubt,  powerfully  influenced  English  statesmen  in 
many  of  their  measures ;  and  English  conquest,  like  all 


316 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Value  of  English  influence.  Americans  wish  well  to  England. 

Other  conquest,  has  often  been  characterized  by  injus- 
tice and  cruelty.  All  political  action,  as  the  world  goes 
at  present,  is  sadly  tainted  Vi^ith  selfishness  and  sin  ; 
and  English  administrations  undoubtedly  share  the 
common  characters  of  humanity.  But  still,  after  all, 
there  has  probably  been  no  government  since  the  world 
began  that  would  have  exercised  the  vast  powers  with 
which  the  British  government  has  been  clothed,  in  a 
manner  more  liberal  and  just,  both  in  respect  to  her 
own  subjects  and  to  foreign  nations,  than  she  has  ex- 
hibited during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  and  is  ex- 
hibiting at  the  present  time.  The  enormous  magni- 
tude of  the  power  she  wields,  and  the  extent  to  which 
its  regulating  effects  are  felt  throughout  the  world,  ex- 
ert a  vast  influence  on  the  extension  and  security  of 
commere,  and,  consequently,  on  the  welfare  and  phys- 
ical comforts  of  the  human  race.  In  fact,  it  must  be 
so.  The  English  mind  is  in  advance  of  all  other  mind 
in  the  Old  World ;  they  who  exercise  it  are  superior  to 
all  others  on  that  stage  ;  and  if  we,  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic,  can  claim  any  thing  like  an  equality  with 
them,  it  is  only  because  we  are  English  ourselves,  as 
well  as  they. 

Americans,  accordingly,  wish  well  to  England.  It 
is  true,  they  are  pleased  to  witness  the  advances  which 
the  English  Constitution  is  making,  especially  as  they 
tend  in  the  same  direction  in  which  society  is  advanc- 
ing in  America.  We  might  even  desire  to  accelerate 
this  advance  a  little  in  some  things.  But  there  is  no 
desire  to  see  a  violent  revolution,  which  should  aim  at 
making  England  democratic  in  form.  In  fact,  the  mo- 
narchical element  in  the  English  Constitution  is  regard- 
ed by  thinking  men  in  America  as  constituting  a  fai 


LEAVING  SCOTLAND.  317 

Prerogative  of  the  crown.  The  aristocracy.  Their  pursuits. 

less  important  point  of  distinction  between  that  gov- 
ernment and  ours  than  would  at  first  be  supposed. 
The  prerogative  of  the  crown  is  coming  to  be,  in  fact 
it  has  already  become,  little  else  than  a  name.  It  is 
the  function  of  requesting,  in  form,  the  party  to  take 
power,  which  Parliament  makes  dominant  in  fact.  It 
is,  in  a  word,  public  sentiment  which  appoints  the  head 
of  the  administration,  in  England  as  well  as  in  America  ; 
the  difference  being,  that  in  England  it  is  a  part,  and 
in  America  the  whole,  of  the  community  whose  voice 
is  heard  in  forming  this  public  sentiment.  It  is  the  ex- 
istence of  other  features  altogether  in  the  British  sys- 
tem which  constitutes  the  real  ground  of  distinction 
between  the  political  conditions  of  the  two  countries. 
Among  these  the  greatest,  no  doubt,  is  the  provision 
for  keeping  up  a  privileged  aristocracy,  required  by  the 
conditions  of  their  existence  to  keep  aloof  from  the  use- 
ful pursuits  of  life.  The  English  think  that  such  a  class, 
so  elevated,  and  so  privileged,  is  the  ornament  and  glory 
of  social  life.  Americans,  on  the  other  hand,  being  al- 
ways busy  themselves,  can  not  conceive  of  elegant  and 
useful  leisure.  There  is  no  alternative,  in  our  minds, 
constituted  as  mankind  are,  between  useful  occupation 
and  a  life  of  idleness  and  vice ;  and  we  imagine  that  a 
hereditary  aristocracy,  monopolizing  the  wealth  of  the 
country,  and  forbidden  to  be  useful,  must,  in  general, 
be  driven  to  spend  their  time  and  their  fortunes  in  vi- 
cious indulgences  and  pleasures.  They  will  look  down 
with  contempt  on  the  great  functions  of  society,  which 
they  are  taught  that  it  is  ungenteel  to  share,  and  addict 
themselves  to  pursuits  which  must  draw  every  vice  in 
their  train.  These  ideas,  which  our  general  notions  on 
the  subject  lead  us  to  form,  are  confirmed  by  the  stories 
D  D  2 


318 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


EvtI  tendencies  of  an  aristocracy.  The  monarchical  principle. 

with  which  we  find  England  filled,  of  the  hunting,  the 
horse-racing,  the  gaming  of  the  nobility ;  the  reckless- 
ness with  which  they  make  their  shooting  and  cours- 
ing paramount  to  the  agricultural  interests  of  the 
land  ;  their  family  feuds  ;  their  licentiousness  ;  and  the 
restraints  they  impose  upon  the  extension  or  the  com- 
forts of  the  population,  in  order  to  keep  vast  tracts  of 
land  in  the  condition  of  gloomy  solitudes,  quiet  and  re- 
tired for  their  shooting.  It  is  undoubtedly  true,  there- 
fore, that  if  an  intelligent  portion  of  the  population  of 
America  were  to  be  suddenly  put  in  possession  of  the 
institutions  and  island  of  Great  Britain,  they  would  at 
once  abolish  the  laws  of  primogeniture  and  entail ;  they 
would  adopt  vote  by  ballot,  and  considerably  extend 
the  right  of  suffrage ;  but  they  would  be  very  slow  to 
encroach  on  the  ancient  prerogatives  of  the  crown. 
They  would  consider  the  royal  scepter  as  now  power- 
less for  any  considerable  evil,  and  would  be  strongly 
inclined  to  let  it  stand  as  a  venerable  hereditament, 
which,  as  it  might  be  preserved  without  injury,  it  would 
be  unwise  to  destroy. 

On  expressing  such  sentiments  as  these  to  my  com- 
panion upon  the  coach,  he  advanced  the  opinion,  which 
almost  all  Englishmen  entertain,  that  things  are  tend- 
ing toward  a  monarchy  in  America,  and  that  before 
many  years  elapse  we  shall  have  a  king.  This  is 
doubtless  a  great  error.  I  explained  to  him  that  the 
real  state  of  the  case  is,  that  there  is  in  America  far 
less  hostility  to  other  people^s  kings  than  is  generally 
supposed,  without  there  being  the  least  approach  to- 
ward a  desire  to  have  one  of  our  own.  The  tenden- 
cy every  where  throughout  the  world,  and  more  than 
any  where  else,  in  America,  is  exactly  in  the  contrary 


LEAVING  SCOTLAND. 


319 


Electing  the  judges.  Functiona  of  government  in  Europe  and  in  America. 

direction.  The  progress  which  the  doctrines  of  civil 
government  are  making  in  this  country  is  toward  the 
divesting  of  central  governments  of  their  power,  and 
distributing  their  functions  among  the  people,  each  to 
be  exercised  by  those  most  immediately  interested  in 
its  proper  fulfillment.  English  gentlemen  hardly  be- 
lieved my  statement  credible  when  I  told  them,  in  il- 
lustration of  this,  that  in  New  York  we  were  trying 
the  experiment  of  allowing  the  people  to  elect  their 
judges  by  ballot,  and  for  short  periods  of  service. 
"  Elect  the  judges  !"  they  would  say,  "  and  by  ballot ! 
And  what  prevents  their  electing  the  very  worst  in  the 
community  ?"  "  Nothing ;  they  can  if  they  choose. 
It  is  just  like  the  presidency  of  one  of  your  rail-way 
companies.  What  prevents  the  shareholders  from 
choosing  the  most  incompetent  man  in  the  compa- 
ny to  manage  their  affairs  ?"  "  Why,  their  own  in- 
terest." "  Exactly ;  and  it  is  just  so  with  the  people 
of  a  district  in  America.  They  have  a  strong  person- 
al interest  in  having  a  competent  man  to  settle  their 
disputes.  Besides,  if  they  choose  to  leave  questions  of 
property  or  crime  arising  among  them  to  bad  or  inca- 
pable men,  the  doctrine  in  America  is,  that  the  rest  of 
the  world  have  no  occasion  to  interfere.  They  are  to 
be  left  to  have  their  own  way,  till  they  acquire  wisdom 
by  experience.  Our  idea  of  government  is  not  that  of 
a  great  central  power  at  Washington,  to  extend  its 
view  over  the  whole  country,  and  take  all  the  inter- 
ests of  the  community  under  its  paternal  surveillance. 
The  sole  business  of  government  is,  with  us,  to  protect 
people  from  being  injured  by  other  persons.  We  do 
not  consider  it  necessary  to  provide  for  governmental 
interference  to  keep  Yankees  from  injuring  themselves. 


320 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


The  "people."  Landholders  in  England  and  in  America. 

These  kind  of  doctrines,  which,  however,  I  simply 
quoted  as  the  prevailing  sentiment  in  our  country, 
without  saying  whether  they  were  or  were  not  my 
own,  always  excite  much  surprise  in  the  minds  of  Eu- 
ropeans, who  are  accustomed  to  look  upon  a  govern- 
ment as  all  in  all,  a  universally  pervading  power  hav- 
ing the  supervision  of  all  the  interests  of  society,  and 
responsible  for  every  thing,  within  and  without,  in  all 
its  workings. 

One  ground  of  the  difficulty  which  the  English  have 
in  understanding  how  it  is  that  so  much  can  be  safely 
left  to  the  population  itself  in  America,  arises  from  the 
erroneous  ideas  they  have  of  the  character  and  con- 
dition of  this  population.  The  word  people  includes, 
in  English  ideas,  an  enormous  mass  of  ignorant,  shift- 
less, destitute  laborers,  who  have  no  property  to  pro- 
tect of  their  own,  and  no  interest  in  the  protection 
of  the  property  of  those  above  them.  There  is  no 
such  class  in  America ;  or,  at  least,  it  is  so  small  that 
it  may  be  safely  left  out  of  the  account.  The  real 
power  is  exercised  in  one  country,  as  in  the  other,  by 
the  land  owners.  The  difference  is,  that  in  England 
the  landed  proprietors  are  a  small  class,  consisting  of 
the  oldest  sons  of  oldest  sons ;  whereas  in  America 
they  are  the  whole  population.  This  is  not  literally 
and  exactly  true,  but  it  is  so  substantially  and  gen- 
erally. If  you  take  away  from  the  number  of  the 
voters  in  America  all  owners  of  houses  and  farms,  and 
also  all  who  do  not  own  houses  or  farms  because  they 
are  engaged  in  other  business  affording  them  more 
profitable  employment  for  their  capital,  the  number 
left,  that  is,  the  number  who  are  not  proprietors  of  land 
on  account  of  their  poverty,  is,  at  least  in  all  the  North- 


LEAVING  SCOTLAND. 


321 


Doctrine  of  equality  in  America.  Equality  of  rights,  not  of  condition. 

ern  states,  extremely  small.  They  exercise  no  appre- 
ciable influence  upon  the  management  of  the  public  af- 
fairs of  the  country. 

There  is  another  point  on  which  Englishmen  very 
frequently  misconceive  the  state  of  things  on  this  side 
the  water ;  I  refer  to  the  idea  they  have  of  our  doc- 
trine of  equality.  They  always  seem  to  imagine  that 
we  consider  all  men  equal  in  fact,  in  this  country ; 
whereas,  what  we  consider  is  simply  that  all  men  are 
entitled  to  the  enjoyment  of  equal  rights.  Differences 
of  birth,  of  education,  of  talents,  attainments,  wealth, 
and  position  make  a  vast  difference  in  the  degree  of 
consideration  which  various  individuals  enjoy  in  this 
country,  as  in  all  others.  Nor  have  we  any  theories 
of  equality  which,  however  fully  carried  out,  are  in- 
consistent with  this.  We  give  to  every  man  a  share 
in  whatever  advantages  the  laws  and  institutions  of 
society  can  afford  to  those  who  live  under  them,  with- 
out imagining  at  all  that  any  sort  of  equality  of  condi- 
tion will  result,  or  ought  to  result.  We  are  all  willing 
that  one  man  shall  be  higher  than  another ;  but  only 
that  no  man  shall  be  raised  to  such  position  through 
the  partiaUty  and  favoritism  of  the  laws  of  the  land, 
either  toward  him  as  an  individual  or  toward  his  class. 
Thus  it  is  not  equality  of  condition,  but  equality  of 
rights,  that  Americans  insist  upon.  They  wish  to  be 
independent  of  each  other,  each  having  his  own  wel- 
fare and  happiness,  as  much  as  possible,  in  his  own 
hands.  Thus  an  American  is  willing  that  his  neighboi 
should  be  higher  than  he,  but  he  must  not  be  directly 
omr  him.  He  is  never  content,  therefore,  permanently, 
in  the  position  of  a  servant  or  of  a  tenant,  or  in  any 
position  of  continued  and  direct  dependence  upon  an- 


322 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


American  independence.  English  feeling.  Instance. 

Other  man.  He  will  live  cheerfully  in  an  humble  cabin 
and  upon  coarse  food,  if  the  cabin  is  his  own,  and  if  he 
does  not  feel  indebted  to  any  body  for  his  right  to  earn 
his  humble  subsistence.  It  does  not  disturb  him  to 
have  a  wealthy  neighbor,  provided  he  is  himself  inde- 
pendent of  him  ;  but  he  can  not  brook  a  landlord  or  a 
master.  He  is  willing,  in  a  word,  to  be  in  the  forest 
of  life  a  small  tree ;  but  he  can  not  bear  to  be  a  mere 
sucker  from  a  great  one. 

The  Englishman,  on  the  other  hand,  feels  no  objec- 
tion to  being  a  sort  of  link  in  a  gradation,  a  dependency 
on  something  above  him,  and  a  supporter  or  governor 
of  something  below.  He  even  derives  a  sense  of  dig- 
nity in  himself,  from  the  dignity  of  the  power  under 
which  he  is  accustomed  to  bow.  On  coming  across 
the  English  Channel,  toward  the  last  of  September, 
we  landed  at  Folkestone,  where  our  trunks  and  carpet 
bags  were  all  examined  at  the  custom-house.  In  the 
omnibus  which  took  us  from  the  custom-house  to  the 
rail-way  station,  a  respectable-looking  young  woman, 
who  was  seated  next  to  me,  seemed  agitated  and  dis- 
tressed. I  asked  her  if  she  had  had  any  trouble  at  the 
custom-house,  and  she  replied  that  they  had  used  her 
very  ill  indeed.  Her  lip  quivered  and  tears  came  into 
her  eyes.  As  soon,  however,  as  she  recovered  a  little 
composure,  she  explained  to  me  that  they  had  found 
some  letters  in  her  trunk,  given  to  her  by  some  friends 
in  Paris  to  take  to  England,  and  that  they  had  taken 
them  all  away,  and  had  told  her  that  they  should  fine 
her  twenty  pounds.  I  endeavored  to  quiet  her  fears, 
by  telling  her  that  it  was,  indeed,  contrary  to  law  to 
carry  letters  in  that  way,  but  that  I  did  not  think  they 
would  really  exact  the  fine ;  that  I  thought  it  was  only 


323 


LEAVING  SCOTLAND. 


Belonging  to  a  marqiiis.  Slavery.  How  the  subject  is  introduced. 


a  threat ;  for,  if  they  really  meant  to  require  the  money, 
they  would  have  detained  her  till  it  was  paid.  They 
would  have  no  means  of  finding  her  again.  "  Oh,  yes," 
said  she,  "  I  belong  to  the  Marquis  of  Montgomery, 
and  they  can  find  me  very  easily." 

I  employ  a  fictitious  name  instead  of  the  one  which 
she  really  gave  me,  and  I  fail  to  represent  the  tone  of 
suppressed  pride  and  pleasure  with  which  she  announ- 
ced to  us  her  position  in  the  social  scale.  We  rode  on 
toward  the  station  in  silence,  she  comforted  in  some 
degree  by  my  encouragement  and  sympathy,  and  I 
musing  on  the  strange  possibility  of  a  human  soul  being 
in  such  a  state  that  it  could  derive  a  feeling  of  satisfac- 
tion and  pleasure  for  itself  from  the  grandeur  of  the 
personage  to  whom  it  belonged. 

In  conversations  between  Americans  and  English- 
men, on  the  political  and  social  condition  of  their  re- 
spective countries,  the  subject  of  slavery  is  almost  al- 
ways introduced.  In  some  cases  it  is  brought  forward 
in  a  taunting  or  reproachful  manner,  personally  disre- 
spectful to  the  American  addressed.  Generally,  how- 
ever, so  far  as  my  experience  goes,  it  is  quite  other- 
wise, the  subject  being  introduced  and  discussed  in  a 
gentlemanly  and  proper  way ;  and  in  this  way  it  is,  of 
course,  perfectly  right  to  introduce  any  great  social 
or  political  evils,  real  or  imaginary,  in  the  conversation 
which  takes  place  among  men  of  different  nations,  as 
they  meet  casually  on  the  great  thoroughfares  of  life. 
No  American  ought,  therefore,  to  take  offense  at  the 
mere  fact  of  the  bringing  forward  of  this  subject  on 
such  occasions. 

When  the  subject  is  thus  introduced,  the  reply  of 
Americans  from  the  free  states  very  generally  is,  that 


324 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Defense.  Its  grounda. 

slavery  is  an  evil,  but  that  we,  of  the  said  free  states,  are 
personally  not  at  all  responsible  for  it,  it  being  exclu- 
sively a  state  institution,  and  of  course  lying  solely  under 
the  power  of  the  states  which  tolerate  it.  We  then  pro- 
ceed to  explain,  what  very  few  Englishmen  understand, 
that  our  union  is  not  a  confederation  of  subordinate 
states,  with  a  general  government  supreme  over  the 
local  governments,  and  having  them,  in  some  sense, 
under  its  control.  It  is,  on  the  other  hand,  a  great 
community,  exercising  a  portion  of  its  sovereignty  in 
one  way,  and  through  one  set  of  agents,  and  another 
portion  in  another  way,  and  by  means  of  another  set  of 
agents,  each  organization  being  independent  of  the 
other,  and  each  being  supreme  in  its  own  province. 
Thus  all  that  relates  to  the  internal  arrangements  of 
society  is  controlled  entirely  by  the  local  govern- 
ments, the  general  government  having  no  responsibil- 
ity in  respect  to  these  subjects,  as  well  as  no  control. 
It  is  only  our  dealings  with  foreign  nations,  and  the 
affairs  of  the  post-office,  which  we  manage  by  the  gen- 
eral government,  and  in  acting  through  this  general 
government,  we  are  not  acting  as  a  confederation  of 
smaller  governments  at  all.  We  melt  together,  as  it 
were,  into  one  great  people,  for  the  exercise  of  all  that 
portion  of  the  sovereignty  which  is  involved  in  the  regu- 
lation of  foreign  affairs,  including  among  foreign  affairs 
every  thing  beyond  the  confines,  territorial  or  legal,  of 
states  actually  organized  as  members  of  the  union.  It 
is  only,  therefore,  so  far  as  we  have  dealings  with  for- 
eign nations  that  we  are  one.  In  other  respects  we 
are  many,  and  this,  as  we  of  the  north  often  maintain, 
exonerates  us  from  all  responsibility  for  the  local  law 
of  slavery. 


LEAVING  SCOTLAND. 


325 


Nature  of  the  American  government.  National  territories. 

Now  this  would  be  a  good  and  valid  ground  of  de- 
fense, were  it  not  that,  in  order  to  enable  our  govern- 
ment to  manage  properly  its  dealings  with  foreign  na- 
tions— which,  of  course,  includes  the  regulation  of  com- 
merce, the  management  of  the  navy,  the  army,  and  the 
dealings  with  Indian  tribes — certain  territories  are  held, 
some  temporarily  and  some  permanently,  under  the 
exclusive  control  of  the  national  government.  The 
navy-yards,  the  forts,  the  western  territories  in  some 
sense,  and  especially,  and  above  all  the  rest,  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  are  examples  of  this  kind  ;  and  I  do 
not  see  why  mankind  at  large  may  not  justly  hold  us, 
as  a  nation^  responsible  for  the  institutions  which,  as  a 
nation,  we  allow  to  prevail  in  these  possessions.  So 
long  as  the  government  retains  the  institution  of  slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia,  the  government  is  a  slave- 
holder, and  all  its  constituents  must  bear  their  share  of 
the  responsibility. 

It  may  be  said  that  it  would  be  wrong  for  the  gov- 
ernment to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
for  that  would  be  an  interference  with  the  private 
rights  of  the  inhabitants,  the  institution  of  slavery  hav- 
ing existed  there  before  it  was  set  apart  for  the  uses  of 
the  national  administration.  This  may,  perhaps,  be 
true  ;  but  the  taking  of  that  position  is  an  abandonment 
of  the  ground  that  the  nation  is  not  responsible.  It  ad- 
mits that  national  laws  sustain  slavery,  but  claims  that 
they  do  so  for  good  reason.  So  that,  in  any  view  of  the 
subject,  it  seems  to  be  right  for  Europeans  to  hold  us 
all  to  a  certain  share  of  responsibility  for  the  existence 
and  continuance  of  slavery  in  the  world.  We  may 
admit  that  slavery  is  morally  wrong,  and  declare  that 
we,  personally,  would  have  it  abolished  in  all  the  na- 

E  E 


326 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Responsibility  of  Americans. 


A  remedy  for  the  evil. 


tional  dominions  if  we  could,  submitting,  in  the  mean 
time,  to  the  censure  which  we  think  our  allowing  it  to 
continue  deserves ;  or  we  may  maintain  that  it  is  in 
itself  a  political  evil,  which  can  not  be  eradicated  with- 
out bringing  greater  evils  in  its  stead,  and  thus  defend 
its  present  continuance  ;  or  we  may  contend  that  in  the 
case  of  a  superior  and  inferior  race,  inhabiting  the 
same  country,  and  distinguished  from  each  other  by 
strongly  marked  physical  peculiarities,  it  is  the  right 
and  proper  relation  to  exist  between  them  ;  but  we  can 
not  with  propriety  claim  that  we  of  the  north  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  question.  To  acknowledge 
that  our  national  slavery  is  wrong,  is  candid.  To  main- 
tain that  it  is  right,  is  at  least  open  and  manly ;  but  to 
deny  our  own  concern  with  it,  is  an  unworthy  attempt 
to  evade  a  responsibility  to  which  the  world  at  large 
justly  hold  us,  and  which  we  ought  to  acknowledge. 
For  my  own  part,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  acknowledge  on 
all  occasions  that  I  think  it  entirely  inconsistent  with 
the  theoretical  principles  which  this  nation  advances, 
in  respect  to  the  personal  liberty  of  man,  and  the  equal- 
ity of  his  rights,  that  slavery  should  be  tolerated  in  any 
portion  of  the  national  territory.  The  states  that 
choose  to  retain  this  institution  in  their  own  proper 
dominions  ought  not  to  ask  that  the  whole  confedera- 
tion should  be  placed  in  so  false  a  position  before  the 
world  as  they  are  compelled  to  occupy  under  present 
circumstances.  If  there  are  insuperable  objections  to 
the  extinction  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
there  can  be  none  to  a  removal  of  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment to  another  place,  in  order  that  the  responsibility 
before  the  world  of  sustaining  this  institution  may  rest 
alone  upon  those  who  claim  the  exclusive  power  to 


LEAVING  SCOTLAND. 


327 


Tenantry  better  than  slaves.   Stage-coach.   Gretna  Green.   Entering  England. 

control  it ;  and,  in  common  with  all  the  friends  of  hu- 
manity among  mankind,  I  hope  the  time  may  soon 
come  when,  in  every  land,  those  whom  Providence 
has  made  superior  to  their  fellow-men  in  intelligence 
and  power  shall  prefer  to  have  their  lands  tilled  by  a 
tenantry  rather  than  by  slaves. 

But  to  return  to  the  stage-coach.  We  trotted  bi'iskly 
on  for  several  hours,  when  at  length  we  stopped  at  an 
inn  to  change  the  horses  ;  and  the  coachman,  advanc- 
ing to  us  and  touching  his  hat,  said,  in  an  official  air, 
"Coachman  leaves  here,  if  you  please,  sir."  This 
was  in  token  of  there  being  a  shilling  or  two  to  pay 
from  each  of  the  passengers.  It  was  the  same  with 
the  guard.  After  being  transferred,  accordingly,  to 
the  care  of  a  new  coachman  and  guard,  we  galloped 
on  again  until  at  length,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  day, 
we  reached  a  pleasant  little  village  on  the  confines  of 
Scotland.  It  was  Gretna  Green.  The  coachman 
pointed  out  to  us  a  handsome  white  house — back  from 
the  road,  and  visible  only,  as  we  passed,  through  a 
beautiful  vista  of  shrubbery  and  foliage — where  the 
marriage  ceremony  for  the  English  fugitives  was 
generally  performed.  The  coachman  stopped  a't  the 
toll-gate  near,  and  brought  us  out  some  blank  cer- 
tificates of  marriage,  such  as  are  used  on  such  occa- 
sions. 

We  crossed  a  bridge  over  a  small  stream,  and  en- 
tered England ;  and  a  few  miles  further  on  we  reach- 
ed Carlisle,  the  present  northern  terminus  of  the  rail- 
way from  the  south,  on  the  western  side  of  the  island. 
Here  our  company  was  transferred  to  the  cars,  and  we 
went  on  at  redoubled  speed.  It  was  Saturday  after- 
noon.   I  wanted  to  find  a  quiet,  rural  village  where  I 


328 


SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Seeking  a  quiet  retreat.  The  lakes.  Rural  scenery. 

could  spend  the  Sabbath  in  some  new  scene,  but  was 
without  any  plan  for  finding  it. 

Now  there  is,  as  perhaps  the  reader  is  aware,  in  the 
northwestern  part  of  England  a  region  of  mountains 
and  lakes,  famous  all  over  the  world  for  its  romantic 
beauty.  It  is  a  continuation,  doubtless,  of  the  same 
geological  formation  which,  further  northward,  produ- 
ces the  Highlands  and  islands  of  Scotland.  The  scen- 
ery around  these  Enghsh  lakes  is  less  wild  and  gloomy, 
but  far  more  cultivated  and  beautiful  than  further  north. 
A  branch  of  the  rail-way  diverged  into  this  scene,  leav- 
ing the  great  southern  line  at  Kendal.  Reflecting  that 
it  would,  probably,  be  useless  to  ask  any  questions  of 
m^y  fellow-passengers,  since  they  would  have  very  lit- 
tle idea  of  what  would  please  me  for  a  Sabbath  retreat, 
I  concluded  to  allow  myself  to  be  conveyed  quietly  on 
to  the  end  of  the  branch,  which  I  was  told  terminated 
at  Windermere,  a  name  associated  with  the  highest 
ideas  of  rural  and  romantic  beauty. 

When  we  left  the  main  line,  the  portion  of  the  train 
which  was  detached  to  go  away  from  the  great  busi- 
ness thoroughfare,  in  order  to  penetrate  the  region  of 
romance  and  beauty,  was  very  small.  A  few  cars, 
freighted  with  tourists,  with  students,  and  with  bridal 
parties,  was  all.  As  we  rolled  rapidly  on,  mountains 
began  to  rise  around  us,  and  vistas  of  lovely  valleys 
opened  here  and  there  to  our  view.  Instead,  however, 
of  being  characterized  by  the  dark  and  somber,  though 
beautiful  loneliness  of  the  Highland  glens,  they  present- 
ed on  every  side  enchanting  pictures  of  rural  plenty 
and  peace.  They  were  fertile  beyond  description,  en- 
livened with  villages,  adorned  with  villas  and  parks, 
and  with  the  indications,  every  where,  of  an  abundant 


LEAVING  SCOTLAND.  329 


Station-houses.  Sunset,  Windermere. 

harvest  just  secured.  The  rail-v^ay,  however,  seemed 
an  intruder  in  such  a  scene.  In  fact,  it  wras  yet  incom- 
plete ;  and  its  broken  embankments  and  unfinished 
walls,  and  its  deposits  of  materials,  laid  here  and  there, 
yet  to  be  employed  in  the  completion  of  the  work,  or  in 
the  erection  of  station-houses,  contrasted  strongly  with 
the  smooth,  green  fields,  the  verdant  lawns,  and  the 
ancient  walls,  and  gardens,  and  plantations  through 
which  the  engineers  had  ruthlessly  cut  their  way.  Oc- 
casionally we  stopped  a  few  minutes  at  a  station,  the 
buildings  being  of  stone,  and  of  a  highly  ornamental 
style  of  architecture,  which  appeared  somewhat  fan- 
tastic, while  thus  unfinished  and  new,  but  which  will 
be  picturesque  and  beautiful  when  the  vegetation  shall 
have  closed  around  them  a  little,  and  their  colors  shall 
have  been  somewhat  mellowed  by  time.  At  these 
points  we  left  sometimes  a  few  passengers,  and  some- 
times a  car,  the  train  diminishing  thus,  gradually,  till 
it  assumed  a  character  quite  in  keeping  with  the  still- 
ness and  quiet  of  the  scene  into  which  it  was  making 
its  way.  The  scenery  became  more  wild.  The  sun 
went  down.  The  mountains  and  valleys  assumed  a 
darker  aspect  in  the  evening  air.  A  new  feature  oi 
life  was  introduced  into  the  scene,  however,  in  the  wa- 
ters of  a  lake  which  presently  came  into  view  in  the 
bottom  of  a  long  valley  on  the  confines  of  which  we 
were  traveling.  The  rosy  light  of  the  western  sky 
was  reflected  for  a  few  minutes  in  those  waters,  but  it 
faded  gradually  away,  and  left  to  the  lake  its  proper 
nocturnal  expression  of  loneliness  and  solitude.  We 
advanced  until  the  level  on  which  the  road  was  con- 
structed could  no  longer  be  continued,  and  then  our  en- 
gine, with  the  single  ear  which  remained  attached  to 
E  £  2 


330  '  SUMMER  IN  SCOTLAND. 


Evening  scene.  The  inn  at  Windermere.  A  walk  in  the  twilight. 

it,  came  to  a  stand.  The  little  evening  light  which  re- 
mained showed  us  a  country  of  parks,  gardens,  and 
plantations,  presenting  all  around  an  enchanting  picture 
of  rural  beauty.  A  high  mountain  rose  on  one  side. 
On  the  other  lay  extended  a  broad,  irregular  valley, 
with  the  lake  in  the  bed  of  it.  This  lake  was  Winder- 
mere. Its  shores  presented  every  variety  of  conforma- 
tion— here,  bold  and  picturesque  ;  there,  level  and 
smooth.  Islands  rose  from  the  surface  of  the  water, 
wooded  promontories  projected  from  the  land,  and 
here  and  there  a  sail-boat,  which  had  lingered  on  the 
lake  beyond  its  time,  its  useless  sail  still  expanded, 
struggled  with  its  oars  to  regain  the  shore.  Beyond 
the  valley,  the  forms  of  dark,  distant  mountains  were 
relieved  against  the  evening  sky. 

Upon  a  small  platform  of  elevated  land  just  above 
the  station  stood  an  inn,  built  like  a  castle.  Some  of 
the  tourists  ascended  to  it  by  a  winding  walk.  Others 
were  transferred  to  a  coach,  which  was  to  take  them 
down  the  valley  to  Ambleside.  I  ascended  to  the  inn, 
ordered  dinner,  and,  while  it  was  preparing,  began  to 
mount  a  hill  behind  the  house,  which  seemed  to  be  a 
sort  of  stepping-stone  to  the  mountains  beyond.  I  walk- 
ed along  a  little  path  through  recently-reaped  fields, 
with  a  high  wall  on  one  side,  which  shut  me  out  from 
some  gentleman's  park,  or  pleasure-grounds.  Groups 
of  trees  were  scattered  here  and  there,  and  old  walls 
and  hedges,  over  and  through  which  I  made  my  way 
slowly  in  the  dimness  of  the  twilight.  I  seated  myself 
on  the  rocks  at  the  summit,  and  looked  far  and  wide 
over  the  valleys  which  were  spread  out  before  me. 
Lights  began  to  glimmer  here  and  there  from  the  quiet 
Enghsh  homes  with  which  these  valleys  were  filled. 


LEAVING  SCOTLAND. 


331 


The  last  view.  The  summer  ended  and  gone. 

The  lake  resumed  its  reflections  of  the  evening  sky  in 
its  sheltered  parts,  and  was  ruffled  by  the  evening  breeze 
in  others.  The  scene  was  impressive,  and  almost  sol- 
emn. But  it  soon  became  too  cool  for  me  to  remain, 
n6twithstanding  the  protection  of  the  Highland  plaid, 
which  almost  every  tourist  has  around  him  in  coming 
out  of  Scotland.  I  reflected  that  it  was  September, 
and  that  I  was  in  England.  My  summer  in  Scotland 
was  ended  and  gone. 


THE  END. 


WORKS  ON  EDUCATION, 


FROM  THE 

INSTITUTIONS  OF  MESSRS.  ABBOTT,  N.  Y.  CITY. 


The  Teacher  ;  or.  Moral  Influences  employed  in  the  Instruction 
and  Government  of  the  Young.    By  Jacob  Abbott. 

This  book  is  intended  to  detail,  in  a  practical  and  familiar  man- 
ner, a  system  of  arrangements  for  the  organization  and  manage- 
ment of  a  School,  based  on  the  employment  of  Moral  Influences,  so 
far  as  practicable,  as  a  means  of  effecting  the  object  in  view.  Its 
design  is  not  to  bring  forward  new  theories  or  plans  for  those 
already  successfully  engaged  in  the  work  of  education,  but  to  de- 
velop and  explain,  and  carry  out  to  their  practical  applications,  such 
principles  as  among  all  skillful  and  experienced  teachers  are  gene- 
rally admitted  and  acted  upon,  and  to  present  these  principles  in  a 
practical  form  for  the  use  of  those  who  are  beginning  the  work,  and 
who  wish  to  avail  themselves  of  the  experience  which  others  have 
acquired.  The  work  has  been  pubhshed  some  years,  has  been 
highly  commended  by  the  best  authorities,  and  has  a  very  wide  and 
increasing  circulation  both  in  this  country  and  in  England.  Pub- 
lished by  H.  &  E.  Phinney,  Cooperstown,  N.  Y.,  and  for  sale  by 
the  booksellers  generally. 

Abbott's  Drawing  Cards. — The  great  desirableness  of  intro- 
ducing Drawing  in  the  schools  of  our  country  has  been  long  felt ; 
but  as  teachers  generally  have  had  but  little  knowledge  of  the  art, 
it  has  been  thought  very  difficult  to  devise  any  plan  by  which  the 
object  could  be  effected.   The  only  solution  of  the  question  seems 


to  be,  that  one  generation  should  teach  itself,  with  the  encour- 
agement and  aid  of  teachers  and  superintendents,  after  which 
this  branch  may  stand  upon  the  same  footing  with  all  others. 
To  this  end,  a  great  number  of  Drawing  Patterns  of  a  very 
simple  and  yet  of  a  very  practical  character  must  be  fur- 
nished, to  be  imitated  by  the  pupils  under  the  general  supervision 
of  the  teacher,  but  without  the  necessity  of  any  special  knowledge 
of  the  art  on  his  part.  A  great  number  of  these  cards  have  accord- 
ingly been  published,  and  the  plan  has  been  tried  with  great  suc- 
cess in  many  schools.  The  cards  can  be  distributed  and  inter- 
changed from  day  to  day,  so  that  a  set,  costing  fifty  cents,  will  sup- 
ply a  considerable  school  with  lessons  for  three  months.  There 
are  several  series  already  issued,  as  follows : 

AhhoWs  Drawing  Cards. — Elements,  Outlines,  Landscapes,  Cot- 
tages, Animals,  Heads. 

The  above  are  lithographed.  Each  set  contains  32  Cards,  about 
three  inches  by  six,  neatly  put  up  in  a  case.  Other  series  are  in 
course  of  preparation.  The  above  are  published  by  Clark  &  Austin, 
New  York,  and  are  for  sale  by  B.  B.  Mussey  &  Co.,  Boston,  and 
by  the  booksellers  generally. 

AhbotVs  Common  School  Drawing  Cards. — This  series  is  de- 
signed expressly  for  Common  Schools.  The  designs  are  simple, 
and  each  card  contains  practical  directions  to  the  pupil.  There 
are  forty  cards  in  a  set,  put  up  like  those  of  the  other  series 
in  a  neat  case,  upon  which  are  directions  for  the  teachers,  such  as 
to  enable  them  to  introduce  the  exercise  without  any  particular 
knowledge  of  drawing  themselves.  The  plan  wherever  introduced 
is  found  to  work  very  successfully.  Published  and  for  sale  by 
Collins  &  Brother,  New  York,  and  B.  B.  Mussey  &  Co.,  Boston, 
and  by  the  booksellers  generally. 

Mount  Vernon  Arithmetic.  By  Jacob  Abbott.  Part  I.  Ele- 
mentary. Part  n.  Fractions. — Teachers  are  invited  to  examine 
these  works,  which  are  constructed  on  a  plan  materially  different 
from  that  of  the  books  in  common  use.  The  various  principles  in- 
volved in  the  several  arithmetical  processes  are  unfolded  in  a  very 
clear  and  gradual  manner,  each  being  illustrated  by  a  great  number 
of  examples  of  nearly  equal  difficulty,  so  that  the  pupils  have  a  full 
supply  of  materials  for  practice  without  continually  applying  to  the 


teacher  for  explanation  and  aid.  Thus  the  labor  of  the  teacher  is 
greatly  abridged,  abundance  of  pleasant  and  profitable  employment 
is  furnished  for  the  pupils,  and  the  knowledge  which  they  acquire 
of  the  subject  is  of  the  most  thorough  and  profitable  character. 

These  books  contain,  also,  a  series  of  exercises,  on  an  entirely 
new  plan,  for  teaching  the  art  of  adding  up  columns  of  figures  with 
facility  and  correctness.  These  exercises  are  to  be  practised  in 
classes,  and  are  found  very  successful  wherever  they  are  intro- 
duced.   They  are  put  up  and  sold  separately,  as  stated  below. 

The  above  works  are  published  and  for  sale  by  Collins  &  Bro- 
ther, New  York. 

Abbott's  Addition  Columns,  for  Teaching  the  Art  of  Rapid 
Adding. — This  work,  in  twenty-four  pages  12mo.,  consists  of  a 
series  of  exercises  to  be  practised  by  classes  in  concert,  for  learn- 
ing the  art  of  running  up  columns  of  figures  with  facility  and  cor- 
rectness, and  is  found  very  successful  in  accomplishing  the  end 
intended.  A  practice  of  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  each  day  is  suffi- 
cient, and  all  the  scholars  in  arithmetic  in  a  whole  school  may  form 
one  class. 

The  price  of  the  book,  neatly  put  up  in  printed  covers,  is  seventy- 
five  cents  per  dozen ;  and  each  copy  will  answer  for  two  pupils. 
Published  and  for  sale  by  Clark  &  Austin,  New  York ;  Colhns  & 
Brother,  do. ;  Benj.  B.  Mussey  &  Co.,  Boston  ;  and  by  booksellers 
generally. 

The  Young  Astronomer.  By  John  S.  C.  Abbott. — Most  treatises 
upon  Astronomy  contain  much  which  is  unintelligible  to  those  who 
have  not  passed  through  a  regular  course  of  mathematical  studies. 
It  is,  however,  very  desirable  that  all  the  youth  in  our  schools  should 
be  familiar  with  those  simple  yet  sublime  facts  which  have  been  de- 
veloped by  this  science.  To  present  these  facts  in  language  which 
can  be  comprehended  by  every  good  understanding  in  our  common 
schools  and  academies  is  the  object  of  this  work.  It  is  hoped  that 
it  may  incite  a  deeper  interest  in  the  study  of  this  most  noble  of  al] 
the  sciences  ;  that  it  may  disseminate  widely  in  the  popular  mind 
an  acquaintance  with  those  truths  which  are  so  eminently  calcu- 
lated to  elevate  the  understanding  and  to  ennoble  the  heart,  and 
that  many  may  be  induced  to  prosecute  the  study  into  those 


higher  regions  of  mathematical  inquiries  which  can  call  into  requi- 
sition all  the  energies  of  a  Newton  and  a  Herschel. — Sold  by  J.  C. 
Riker,  12^  Fulton  St.,  N.  Y. 

The  Practical  Book  of  Composition.  By  Edward  A.  Morgan. 
Principal  of  the  English  Department,  Mount  Vernon  Schooli 
New  York. 

This  little  work  is  prepared  like  a  common  copy-book,  with  en- 
gravings at  the  head  of  each  page.  The  engravings  are  selected 
with  a  reference  to  the  furnishing  of  proper  subjects  to  interest  the 
youthful  mind.  A  few  simple  directions  on  the  cover  will  guide 
the  different  grades  of  pupils  in  the  particular  course  they  are  to 
follow  in  writing  their  compositions  ;  so  that  the  book  may  be  as 
useful  to  the  more  advanced  scholar  as  to  the  beginner.  On  the 
third  page  of  the  cover  is  a  short  description  of  each  engraving, 
suggesting  the  peculiarities  of  the  picture,  which  the  pupil  will  do 
well  to  notice  in  the  description  which  may  be  written. 

The  plan  on  which  this  book  is  arranged  has  been  successfully 
tried  by  several  eminent  teachers  with  entire  satisfaction,  and  is 
presented  to  the  public  with  the  hope  that  it  may  prove  as  useful 
to  others  as  it  has  been  to  those  who  have  used  it. 

The  above  work  is  sold  at  twelve  and  a-half  cents,  and  may  be 
obtained  of  the  publishers,  Clark  &  Austin,  New  York ;  Benj.  B. 
Mussey  &.  Co.,  Boston;  and  of  booksellers  generally. 


Date  Due 

9] 

BOSTON  COLLEGE 


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